Portugal has a huge backlog of 410,000 pending immigration applications according to the new president of AIMA Portugal. To clear the backlog of cases, the government will be introducing several measures to clear the pending applications by next June 2025.
The Portuguese government presented on 3 June its action plan for international migration, built around regulated immigration, foreign talent attraction, humanistic integration, and institutional reorganisation. The Plan is divided into four main areas of action: regulated immigration; attracting foreign talent; human integration that works; institutional reorganization.
1.Action Plan
The Portuguese government presented on 3 June its action plan for international migration, built around regulated immigration, foreign talent attraction, humanistic integration, and institutional reorganisation.
The plan comprises 41 measures. These include:
- the prioritisation of entry channels for family reunification, young students and skilled professionals;
- the development and execution of the national plan for the implementation of the Pact for the Migration and Asylum of the European Union;
- the reinforcement of the operational framework of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) mobility agreement;
- the establishment of a framework to resolve the more than 400 000 pending cases of – mostly – labour migrants, awaiting regularisation by the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migraion and Asylum (AIMA);
- setting up municipal/intercity emergency reception centres for immigrants in cooperation with municipalities;
- the reinforcement of the offer, coverage and frequency of Portuguese language teaching.
2.Mission Structure
A Mission Structure will be formed for the Recovery of Pending Processes at AIMA, which will be responsible for analysing and deciding pending processes for the regularisation of foreign nationals. Mission Structure will operate until June 2, 2025, and will have up to 300 people dedicated to functions related to both the administrative processing of cases and assistance to applicants. Among them, two mission teams of a maximum of 100 specialists, 150 assistant technicians and 50 operational assistants.
3.Validity of Visas and Residence permits extended
Documents and visas relating to stay in national territory, which expired from 22 February 2020, are valid until 30 June 2025 and are accepted by Portuguese public authorities, for all legal purposes, according to Article 16, paragraphs 1 and 8, of Decree-Law No. 10-A/2020, of 13 March, in its current version.
This regulation applies to all documents and visas, namely:
- Residence Permits (AR), including CPLP Residence Permits.
- EU Citizens Registration Certificates
- EU Citizens and Family Members Residence Cards.
- Short-stay, temporary stay, and residence Visas
. Among others
All foreign nationals holding any visa or residence permit, which expired from 22 February 2020, may remain in, exit, and enter Portugal based on these documents, as they continue to be accepted by all Portuguese public authorities, for all legal purposes, until 30 June 2025. The extension of the validity of the mentioned documents and visas until 30 June 2025 is limited to Portugal and is binding on Portuguese public authorities.
