Some people are sleeping on the street due to the massive queues
Every morning, long before dawn breaks, hundreds of immigrants gather outside Portugal’s Directorate-General for Consular Affairs in Lisbon and Porto. Some sleep on cardboard, others on benches in the garden. Many have traveled through the night – from cities like Tomar and Portalegre – to save their spot in the ever-growing queues in a bid to secure the documents they need.
What they’re after is a simple but crucial document: a criminal record certificate, now required to move forward with legal residency processes overseen by Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).
Without it, their path to legalisation or residency renewal is stalled. And with the Lisbon consular office reportedly attending only 30 to 60 people a day, many are left waiting – or sleeping – outside for days at a time.
“I left Tomar at 10pm and got here around midnight,” one woman told SIC. “It’s the only way. The times I’ve left Tomar on the first morning train, at 5am, I don’t get seen.”
Others share similar stories. Faustino, a 49-year-old Angolan who has lived in Portugal since 2024, was yesterday on his third day waiting, with a Tuesday deadline looming. Speaking to Lusa, he said he came to Portugal to improve his life. While he has found work in a factory, he said he didn’t think it would be this hard to sort out the paperwork or find housing.
For Núria, 34, Wednesday was a better day. “They’ve added more staff, it’s faster now,” she said, expressing gratitude for an understanding employer – a rare privilege among those in line.
Among those in the queues are mostly Angolan nationals, due in part to the Angolan consular offices in Portugal not offering this validation service, unlike other embassies. As a result, Lisbon and Porto offices have become bottlenecks, with lines that stretch into the hundreds.
Milena, a 26-year-old student, said she plans to return to Angola despite doing well in school. Finding a house is very difficult, she told Lusa, and complained about Portugal’s bureaucracy which makes dealing with the most menial task a headache.
Meanwhile, in Porto, the picture is much the same. On Thursday morning, about 250 people lined up outside the consular office, some also having spent the night outdoors.
“I’ve been here for two days,” Jéssica António told SIC. “It has been such a struggle.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded by extending service hours by one hour, now closing at 4pm, and adding more staff. Still, those unable to be seen are often told to return the next day – adding to the backlog and anxiety.
And yet, many remain determined. Rosalina, 54, from Portalegre, has slept on a cardboard box for two nights outside of the Lisbon office. “Angolans like to work — that’s why we find jobs,” she says. What’s harder, it seems, is keeping the paperwork in order.
