The measure, explains the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) in a statement, is related to the “sensitivity of the specific cases” and the fact that some citizens are minors.

“Through this channel, it will be possible to forward all processes more quickly so that their cases can be analysed in detail, with a view to guaranteeing their effective protection, the proportionality of decisions and also the legally foreseen possibilities of regularization alternatives in national territory,” says the statement.

AIMA recalls that in February 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, an online portal was created where citizens wishing to request temporary protection from the Portuguese State could register.

After the application and automatic searches, a document attesting to the protection status was automatically sent to the applicant, without in-person assistance (except for minors).

At the time, AIMA further explains, verification of the data entered on the platform was waived.

“As all temporary protection grants are now being reviewed by AIMA, following a decision by the European Union (EU) of September 8, 2025, cases are being found where the granting was improper,” the note clarifies, adding that in such cases, beneficiaries “are notified of the intention to cancel” the status, but may contest it.

“This procedure and the guarantee of this right occurred for all citizens who find themselves in this situation, without exception, including Russian or Belarusian citizens, or minors, whose legal guardians were notified for this purpose,” assures AIMA.

Foreign students

On Wednesday, at the press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said, when questioned by journalists, that foreign students who fled the war in Ukraine can obtain a student residence permit if they prove that they want to continue their studies in Portugal.

The minister recalled that AIMA was verifying the 65,000 temporary protections granted at the time, which include those of foreign students, and reminded that the European Commission asked countries to verify the requirements for issuing temporary protections.

“AIMA is doing what all European authorities are doing, which is verifying these processes for issuing the 65,000 temporary protection permits granted,” he said, adding that the agency has found people who, when called upon to demonstrate their documentation, fully comply, and their temporary protection permits remain valid, and has detected other cases that could change their status “to other forms of authorization to remain in Portugal, such as study visas.”

However, he stressed, AIMA is also “identifying some situations of people who cannot demonstrate that they are ineligible for that temporary protection regime.”