Lisbon July 14, 2026 — A special team of 28 administrative judges has advanced or concluded around one-fifth of the immigration cases filed against Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, AIMA.
The task force began work in April to deal with roughly 124,000 delayed proceedings involving residence permits, appointments, family reunification and other immigration matters. One-fifth of that total represents approximately 25,000 court files.
Earlier figures showed that the judges had already issued thousands of judgments and procedural orders. However, new cases continue to enter the courts, meaning the backlog remains substantial.
The progress does not mean that 25,000 residence cards have been issued. A court may order AIMA to schedule an appointment, examine an application or make a decision, but AIMA must still carry out those orders.
The task force is helping to move cases that had remained frozen for months, but the real impact on immigrants will depend on whether AIMA has enough staff and resources to process the court decisions without creating another bottleneck.