Vila Franca de Xira welcomes | Support line for the ukrainian population and displaced people of Ukraine

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused a global humanitarian crisis.

At the moment, many war displaced people arrive in Portugal and need support and protection.  Due to the emergent needs of these displaced people, Vila Franca de Xira City Council has created a free of charge phone line for support and referral to the resident Ukrainian families and friends and to the displaced people that seek for accommodation in our municipality.

We ensure assessment to all of these conflict victims and the referral to the services or entities according to each situation.

The phone line is available from Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 800 210 117.

The residents can also contact the services at apoiosocial.ucrania@cm-vfxira.pt.
 

Reception/Accommodation

The Council of Ministers’ resolution n. 29 – A/2022 establishes the criteria of granting temporary protection to dislocated Ukrainians.

Therefore, it was defined granting temporary protection with automatic residence permit issue for one year, with the possibility of renewal, to Ukrainian citizens as well as other nationality citizens who can prove to be relative to Ukrainian citizens.

The requests for temporary protection must be requested at National Border Service (SEF) and after the request approval, a social security identification number, a fiscal number and a national health care system number is automatically issued.

Regarding the implementation of government measures, and as articulated resources to the displaced Ukrainian citizens, the City Council of Vila Franca de Xira has two service attendance places for clarification, support, and guidance.

These attendance points have an immigrant mediator from CLAIM – Local Counselling for Immigrant appointment – to optimize the process with SEF (National Border Service), and a social support assistant to evaluate the necessary assistance in order to give a suitable response.

To book an appointment, you can contact us by the telephone line or e-mail created for this purpose.

Attendance places (with previous booking):

• Loja do Munícipe at Vila Franca de Xira
  Praça Bartolomeu Dias, nº 9 – Quinta da Mina – 2600-076 Vila Franca de Xira
   
• Loja do Munícipe at Alverca do Ribatejo
  Av. Capitão Meleças, nº 38 – 2615-096 Alverca do Ribatejo

Support Areas

Following the social appointment, and after the proper assessment of each situation, the prompt allocation or support is ensured, which can be done in different intervention areas:

• Health:
  • Evaluation of the displaced people’s health;
  • Dislocated vaccination plan verification and the necessary adjustments to the Portuguese plan;
  • COVID-19 testing;
  • COVID-19 plan of vaccination;
  • Guidance and tracking of chronic diseases of the displaced people.
     
• Accommodation:
  • The displaced people without alternative housing can be allocated to integrate accommodation provided by private, integrated in a national platform for accommodation;
  • Alongside, the city council of Vila Franca de Xira has created a local host database for accommodation for privates who wish to accommodate a displaced family.
     
• Food Support:
  • In case for immediate food support, the council, as well as its local partners, give the necessary food assistance according to the family household composition for as long as needed, according to the proper technical assessment.
     
• Support with basic needs:
  • Similar to the food support, the council, as well as its local social partners, can support with essential supplies, according to the situation, such as hygiene products, clothing, among others;
  • The products above mentioned are collected through several raising campaigns conducted by the local social partners.
     
• Psychological Support:
  • In case of urgent and immediate need, psychological help may be provided to the families when contacting the phone line available.
     
• Social Activities:
  • Whereas a large number of displaced people are children and young people, the Council of Vila Franca de Xira has challenged all the local cultural and sport associations to offer free admittance for them;
  • This can mitigate the suffering of these children and somehow change their reality for a moment.
     
• Education:
  • Children and young people integration in adequate classes;
  • School grade equivalence assignment;
  • Portuguese courses for foreigners;
  • Education Social Support allocation.
     
• Employment:
  • Portuguese curses for foreigners;
  • Attendance and referral to job offers: to book an appointment at the Employment Centre of Vila Franca de Xira an email should be sent with name, telephone number and e-mail contact from the displaced person, if there is one, to rede.empregabilidade@cm-vfxira.pt which will be resent to the Employment Services;
  • Ukrainian citizens looking for a job can also enrol in any Portuguese Employment and Training Institute  - Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP) or send an e-mail to job.ukraine@iefp.pt.
  • In case of a job offer, the companies can send the details to https://www.iefp.pt/portugal-for-ukraine or to ofertasucrania@iefp.pt.
     
• Juridical Support:
  • The Vila Franca de Xira Bar Association provides support with a list of lawyers available for juridical support at the head office.
     
• Pet Admission/enrolment:
  • The Town Council of Vila Franca de Xira will identify all Ukrainian dislocated pets through the Vet Services, so if there are pets with the displaced families they should be enrolled, by contacting the phone line available.