The Portuguese government has extended all documents for foreigners for 1 year until June 30, 2025.
What’s happened
AIMA* states that approximately 1 million immigrants lived permanently in Portugal in 2023, an all-time high for the country. If we make a comparison with 2022, then in 2023 the number of expats increased by 130%. And the data for 2024 could be even higher.
To solve this problem, the government members has taken several measures:
- All expat documents were automatically extended for 1 year
- Government has launched assistance for departments that deal with documents of foreigners. It is planned to supplement the team with 300 officials who will help with expatriate affairs.
- Government has developed the structure of a new mission which is supposed to restore and complete the legalization processes.
Why did they do this?
The Portuguese government is interested in attracting new labor to the country to accelerate economic development. In order not to delay the legalization procedure and not to alienate possible expats, the state is doing everything possible to speed up and simplify the processes.
The migration agency plans to hire at least 100 new staff in the coming months to meet it’s case plan. But it is believed that there could be much more of them, because even this number of assistants will not be enough.
What does it mean
Now the Integration Agency are accountable for attracting immigrants to the country, managing migration surveillance and making decisions on the legalization of foreigners. According to AIMA forecasts, the agency will have time to review all 410 thousands cases by mid-summer 2025.
Preliminarily, the new structure at AIMA will be in effect until June 2, 2025. It will employ about 300 people. She will not only review cases, but also provide comprehensive assistance to applicants.
*AIMA is the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum.
