AIMA – the agency for integration, migration and asylum, granted 386,463 residence permits as of October 22 this year – 60% more than in the same period in 2024.
The data came from president of AIMA’s board of directors , Pedro Portugal Gaspar, in an interview with the Conversa Capital programme, on Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios, published last night.
“As of October 22, we had 386,463 (residency) cards actually issued, new authorisations throughout 2025, already with the final card title, because that’s the final element. (…) In the same period in 2024, we had 236,030, so we have an increase of 60%, 61%, around that,” he said.
Most of these processes still correspond to situations of people who entered Portugal under the expression of interest mechanism – which allowed foreigner to apply for a residence permit even if they had only arrived on a tourist visa. This mechanism has since been abolished, and with it, says Gaspar, will go much of the pressure on AIMA.
This year the trend of reducing residency requests will continue (they have already dropped by around 50%) and once the new Foreigners Law is in place, Gaspar believes residency demand will fall potentially even more.
The new law, promulgated by the President of the Republic on October 16, provides for limiting visas for foreigners seeking work to “qualified work” (as has already happened).
Regarding the renewal of residence permits, Pedro Portugal Gaspar said that the launch of the ‘Renewals Portal’ has, to date, enabled 32,000 to 33,000 people to do this without having to attend AIMA offices.
When asked about unanswered phone calls, he admitted that 20% of calls go unanswered, but stressed AIMA received around 300,000 calls in the first months of 2025.
Regarding legal action taken by foreigners due to AIMA’s lack of appointment scheduling, Gaspar stressed that AIMA has never been condemned, ‘because it has always responded positively to the legal action’.
To respond to the pressure of requests, Pedro Portugal Gaspar called for a further reinforcement of AIMA’s staff, currently made up of more than 770 employees, after a 10% increase last year. Whether this happens (on the basis of the likely fall in demand) is what remains to be seen.
Source: LUSA
