Lisbon May 14, 2026 — AIMA have now carried out more than 763,000 consultations and decided over 525,000 immigration cases, with approximately 473,000 receiving favorable decisions, according to Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro. 189,000 Manifestação de Interesse cases were still left unprocessed at the time of the statement.
Speaking before parliamentary committees on May 13, the minister presented updated figures regarding the extraordinary immigration regularization operation being carried out by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) following the end of the Mission Structure for the Recovery of Pending Cases.
Under the former “Manifestação de Interesse” system, which was revoked in 2024, AIMA notified around 445,000 people. Authorities processed 256,000 applications, approving 229,000 and rejecting 26,000. So far, 225,000 residence permits have already been issued under this process.
Within the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) regularization framework, authorities notified 215,000 people and provided 207,000 services to 161,000 immigrants. AIMA processed 153,000 applications, of which 140,000 were approved. Authorities have already issued 136,000 residence permits through the CPLP pathway.
The government also addressed the renewal of expired residence permits. According to the minister, around 360,000 cases were included in the renewal process, with 193,000 people notified to remain legally in the country. Of these, 104,000 attended appointments and 82,000 have already received renewed permits.
Leitão Amaro stated that in 2024 Portugal had 1,543,697 foreign citizens with valid residence permits or ongoing regularization processes. More than 1.03 million foreign citizens were contributing to the Portuguese Social Security system.
The minister rejected claims that immigrants place excessive pressure on Portugal’s welfare system, stating that immigrants proportionally use the Social Insertion Income less than Portuguese citizens.
He also explained that future statistics from the National Statistics Institute (INE), expected on June 22, may show different population figures because AIMA and INE use different methodologies. According to the minister, AIMA counts valid residence permits and administrative regularization processes, while INE only counts people who have habitually lived in Portugal for more than 12 months.
Leitão Amaro further stated that the reconciliation of immigration data has been delayed due to the transition from SEF to AIMA and the integration of approximately 440,000 previously uncounted residents into Portugal’s official systems.
According to the minister, the process involves cross-checking millions of data points from AIMA, Social Security, the National Health Service, schools, and the Tax Authority.