Kathmandu, June 10 -- Portugal has given nearly 2,000 Nepalis facing deportation and fines an opportunity to apply for temporary residence permits (TRC), offering relief to migrants caught in a document fraud scandal that had pushed them into a serious legal crisis.

Portugal's Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), the authority responsible for regularising migrants, has allowed affected Nepalis to apply for legal residency despite irregularities linked to forged certification stamps on official documents.

The migrants had submitted genuine police clearance certificates issued by Nepal Police, but the documents carried forged stamps and signatures purportedly from the Portuguese Embassy in New Delhi and the Nepali Embassy....