The online renewal portal was last opened in May last year. The agency has not commented on the matter.
While areas of assistance to immigrants, such as the Mission Structure and investment residencies, are progressing, others are no longer among the government's priorities. For more than six months, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) has not allowed immigrants to renew their residence permits online . The portal was last opened in May of last year, for documents that would expire in the following three months. Since then, immigrants have been unsure how to renew their residence permits.
Since the creation of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) in October 2023, renewing residences has been an unknown for immigrants in Portugal. The service is shared with the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN), but it has never been entirely clear who is responsible or how to effectively access the procedure.
A few months ago, the IRN itself began to differ on how it carries out renewals. Some offices do so six months after the document has expired, while others analyze the "urgency" of the case. There are also IRN offices that only carry out the service for names that are on a list sent by AIMA - which has never publicly explained this list .
Brazilians with expired documents don't know what to do. Immigrant Fernando Moreira's residency has expired since November and his contacts with AIMA or IRN have been fruitless. "I've already sent emails to IRN offices all over the country, they say to apply for one near me, but the offices near me say they'll call when the month in which my AR expired comes," he told.
This week, the agency's president, Pedro Gaspar Portugal, went to Madeira, where there is no IRN - so foreigners were unable to renew theirs. AIMA estimates that there are 700 documents, which will be renewed by the agency itself.
In the Migration Action Plan, announced on June 3, it was defined that the IRN would no longer have jurisdiction over the service, which would be concentrated in AIMA. Almost eight months later, the change has not happened.
Former SEF did not delay opening of the portal
Before AIMA, when the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) still existed, the portal was opened every quarter for renewals of documents that expired in the following three months. Delays, when they occurred, were only a few days.
Although there is a decree-law that recognizes the validity of documents until June of this year, some government entities are unaware of the decree-law. There are common reports of people having difficulty accessing public services because their residence permit has expired.
Another problem is that the decree-law is only valid in Portugal, which prevents foreigners from traveling abroad. Workers and students face more difficulties, because many private companies and universities require the document to be up to date.
As with other procedures with AIMA, in order to have their rights effectively guaranteed, immigrants need to pay a lawyer to file a lawsuit. According to the Supreme Administrative Court (STA), around 900 lawsuits are filed every day in Portuguese courts against the agency.