Portugal extends immigrant documents and visas for one more year. The Agency for Integration, Migrations, and Asylum (AIMA) is currently handling a significant backlog, with 410,000 pending cases.
This halt and delay have complicated the process of renewing various documents for immigrants, including residence permits, work visas, and mobility visas from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries.
The government’s recent measures aim to streamline the process for immigrants and reduce the existing backlog, ensuring a more efficient system for document renewals and regularization.
AIMA’s president, Luís Goes Pinheiro, expressed optimism that the backlog will be resolved by the summer of 2025. He emphasized the need for scalable solutions to address the significant number of pending cases. He also explained that part of the backlog pertains to expressions of interest, a now-defunct legal resource that facilitated the normalization of processes for tourists.
Extension of immigrant documents and visas
The Portuguese government has extended the validity of documents and residence permits for immigrants by one year, until June 30, 2025. This extension addresses a long-standing request from the immigrant community.
The government structured a new mission to handle the backlog of pending processes at AIMA. This structure will operate until June 2, 2025, with up to 300 people dedicated to processing these cases.
A decree-law has been approved to empower AIMA to proactively attract immigrants in Portugal. The Migration Observatory will be enhanced as an essential government agency.
Current Backlog and Efforts
The immigration department has 342,000 pending issues related to expressions of interest and administrative residence authorization processes. An additional 70,000 cases are currently in progress. In total, there are over 400,000 requests awaiting resolution.
The agency has sent 223,000 emails requesting early settlement of appointments for regularization processes, with 110,000 having been paid. Unpaid processes may be closed if no further steps are taken.
The number of pending cases is expected to decrease as some immigrants may have moved to another country or regularized their status through other means, such as the CPLP mobility visa or family reunification.
Portugal’s immigration rules have been changed through a decree by the new government. Through a new decree, the residence permit regulations have been made stricter on 3 June 2024 for undocumented migrants. The long-implemented mechanism of “manifestation of interest” has come to an end.
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