UPDATE: AIMA has clarified that its decision to reject the residence permit application was a mistake and that the deportation order has been cancelled. Read the full update here.
Portugal’s migration agency AIMA is in the headlines for the wrong reasons once again, having ordered a nine-year-old Brazilian girl who has lived in the Algarve since she was eight months old to leave Portugal after rejecting her residence permit application.
SIC broke the story this Wednesday. The child, Beatriz, lives in Albufeira, where her parents live and work legally. Despite this, her residence authorisation was refused, while her parents’ status was approved.
According to the family, the decision also includes an order for the child to leave the country within 20 days.
Beatriz’s mother, Kátia Moreira, said she is living in fear over what may happen to her daughter.
“It’s a nine-year-old girl. How is my daughter going to leave the country, given that her parents are legal? I don’t know what to do,” Kátia told SIC.
The family, originally from Goiânia, say they have lived in Portugal for around nine years and have stable jobs and housing. While the parents had their residency renewed, two children in the family were affected by refusals, including Beatriz and her 20-year-old brother.
The mother questioned the reasoning behind the decision: “They (AIMA) claim it is a lack of proof of accommodation, but if my husband and I have accommodation, why do they think my children do not?”
The administrative process has been ongoing for more than a year. The family says they submitted documents at different appointments last August in Quarteira for the parents and in Sines for the children.
They believed they had provided sufficient documentation, but the outcome differed for parents and children.
AIMA also informed the parents that it registered the child’s name in the central database of the Internal Security System and the Schengen Area.
Meanwhile, legal experts have raised concerns about the decision.
“I hope it is a mistake, because otherwise Portugal clearly violates the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. That is serious for me, because having a public entity that does not know its own law and does not apply it, for me, is extremely serious, and even more so with disadvantaged people in this case,” lawyer Márcia Martinho da Rosa told SIC.
She added that other legal specialists also see possible violations of constitutional protections related to foreigners, family life and the best interests of the child.
In November, a report by SIC highlighted similar cases involving Ukrainian children affected by changes to temporary protection status. At the time, the agency created a dedicated channel to review war-related cases.
The case comes amid a rise in complaints about AIMA this year. According to a new barometer from Consumers Trust Labs, 504 complaints were submitted through the Portal da Queixa complaints website between January and March – up 36.96% compared to the same period in 2025.
Beatriz’s family have not yet taken the case to court. They have appealed the decision to AIMA and are waiting for a response.
So far, AIMA has yet to publicly comment on the case.
