Under strong criticism from lawyers and investors, AIMA reports that thousands of processes related to Golden Visas are at a standstill. The agency held a meeting to clarify doubts on the topic.
In a clarification session on Golden Visas held this Tuesday (14/1), at the Braga Legal Association, the director of the Department of Administrative Procedures and Quality of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), Paulo Henriques, revealed the number of backlogged cases. “At the moment, between investors and family members, we have 50,000 requests for residence permits for investors,” he declared.
Speaking to lawyers and investors, Henriques explained what will change in the way AIMA organizes processes. “All documentation will be duly digitized. This will change the way we work with processes. This way, it will be possible to distribute it to all instructors, in any service space at the agency. Appointments can be made at any AIMA store nationwide,” he explained.
Golden Visas were offered to people who allocated at least 500 thousand euros (R$ 3.2 million) to Portugal, either for the purchase of real estate — now prohibited in large urban centers and coastal areas — or for investments in investment funds or purchasing companies. The counterpart given by the Government was regular residence in the country and, after five years, the right to Portuguese nationality.
With the association's room packed and more than 500 people following the online session, Henriques stated that the digitalization of processes will be the main change aimed at this public, who will receive the residence permit within 90 days, after the documentary evaluations are completed. “The team will not be changed. There will be no staff reinforcement or change in IT. What will change is the way we operate,” he said.
controversial speech
In his presentation, César Teixeira, from the AIMA Board of Directors, emphasized that the processes must be instructed correctly, so that no obstacles arise along the way. He criticized the fact that there were processes with poorly inserted, missing or even incorrect documents. There are requests for residence permits linked to Golden Visas that have been on hold for more than two years.
The coordinator of the Investment Residence Permit Support Unit (ARI), Carla Costa, made a more controversial intervention. First, she tried to explain the reasons for the accumulation of “around half a million backlogged cases” at AIMA, attributing responsibility to the pandemic, which would not have allowed face-to-face services, the change in the legal regime in 2022 and the change in the Service of Foreigners and Borders (SEF) for AIMA, in 2023, with the departure of many employees.
He then sought to attribute responsibility for the delay in the Golden Visa processes to lawyers. “We know that sometimes an intern goes to scan and forgets a page,” he said. He added: “So far, I have not seen any completed Investment Residence Permit process.”
She also highlighted that, from now on, the fee for granting the Golden Visa, of 6,045.20 euros (R$ 37,682), will be paid at the time of biometrics, and if the process is rejected, the amount will be returned. Until now, payment was only made upon delivery of the residence permit.
Criticism and doubts
Carla Costa's speech received harsher criticism from lawyers. “I have a case where AIMA asked for a client’s documents that I had already sent. I had to threaten to sue, claiming that the agency had lost the document for them to grant the residency,” says lawyer Priscila Corrêa.
Regarding the statement by the AIMA coordinator that, to date, no complete investor process had been found, criticism focused on the delay on the part of AIMA. “More than 90 days have passed, and the documents have lost their validity,” a lawyer said in the meeting’s online comments section.
There were points of uncertainty on the part of AIMA's leaders, especially with regard to the translation of foreign documents. Initially, representatives of the migration agency stated that those in English, Spanish or French will not need to be converted to Portuguese. But then, Henriques said, if there is no French-speaking staff on site, translation may be required.
In the comments box, several investors asked questions about their personal cases. One of them said he had invested 1.5 million euros (R$9.4 million) in Portugal and had been waiting for more than two years for a residence permit. Another highlighted that he has been waiting for three years to be called for an appointment. A third wrote that he has already done the biometrics and submitted all the papers in 2023, but still does not have his residence permit.
There was also criticism of the only way to communicate with AIMA, via general email. “Are they asking to send emails? Christmas was four weeks ago,” joked a lawyer, due to the fact that the agency did not respond to messages. Another professional wrote, in the presentation comments, about the need to update the documents that were attached to the processes. “You never informed me that I needed to update. We never received any emails,” he commented. “It was an hour and a half watching the paint dry on the wall,” commented a third representative from the legal world.