brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
This is a long shot, but if anyone here knows how to seek expedited immigration or asylum from Brazil into the EU, that information is urgently needed by friends of mine.
Capsule version: they have credible fear or persecution and harm under Bolsonaro, and any information that can get them out of harms way as they try to flee would be incredibly valuable right now.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
Thanks, all. This resulted in some very useful info that I’ve passed along.
re: brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin It's horribly opaque, but this may be a start? https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/refugee-status_en
Other than that, it may be helpful to look into the immigration and asylum law of individual member countries, particularly Portugal in their case.
re: brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Thaminga Thank you. They’ve been looking into Portugal’s immigration laws in particular. Linked this to them.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin I don't know anything, but the Peter Tatchell Foundation has a list of resources that might be helpful. http://www.petertatchellfoundation.org/asylum-advice-for-lgbt-refugees/
These are largely UK-specific and I don't know if that's the best place to try to go.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@celesteh Linked this to them. Thank you!
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin I looked into this and sadly immigration authorities here in Iceland are pretty terrible. I'm not sure they're good anywhere but if they find a country they're likely to be granted asylum in I think it would be best if that were the first destination in the EU or EEA because of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Regulation
If someone applied for asylum here having come through say Portugal, authorities here would likely send them back there.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Ormur Linked to them. Thank you!
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin
Personally, I think you have a better choice here in Mexico than the US, given Trump's attitude towards immigrants. And if these elections are rigged enough for the republicans to win, you have Zero chance of being granted asylum.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin One of the easiest ways to enter the EU is probably to apply for asylum in Portugal, mostly due to language, but also because both countries have close ties.
Send them to http://www.sef.pt, which is the governmental agency handling immigration and related issues.
Best of luck to your friends 🍀
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@megfault Linked this to them. Thank you!
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin Btw, depending on the motives for persecution, it might be a good idea to reach out to specific NGOs. If it's related to gender or sexual orientation, for example, ILGA can probably give them a hand (https://ilga-portugal.pt). If the issue is affiliation to left-wing movements or parties, there should also be local groups willing to help, but I do not know of any explicitly.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin Generally, immigration/asylum into the EU has become very very difficult. The EU and its member states put refugees in camps, let them drown in the Mediterranean, and penalize normal acts of human kindness against undocumented immigrants as trafficking.
People's best bet would be to start putting the genealogists to work; many EU countries have ancestral citizenship; however, I don't know the rules for Portugal specifically.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
@Goldkin All I can tell you is: don't try to apply for asylum in France. Asylum rules are stricter now (you have little time to apply before getting expelled from the territory) and you need to prove you are being actually and personally persecuted: fear isn't enough. A lot of closeted LGBT people from homophobe countries were denied asylum because they had enough survival instinct not to come out as gay back home.
brazilpol, request for help for friends that need it
fear of* persecution, pardon