“Total panic”

The president of the Supreme Administrative Court (STA), Jorge Aragão Seia, states that the institution is in "total panic," paralysed internally after an avalanche of judicial decisions. During a special operation by administrative courts to process pending immigration cases, over 12,000 orders and around 7,000 judgments flooded the agency in only a month and a half. This overwhelming surge has crippled AIMA’s response capacity, leading to acute disorganisation and severe resource scarcity.

The crisis in administrative jurisdiction has reached a critical point since the summer of 2024, as courts now receive hundreds of lawsuits daily from foreign citizens urgently seeking to regularise their situation in Portugal.

Immediate intervention

The sheer volume, already at 133,000 cases, demands immediate intervention. In response, the judiciary mobilised an extraordinary team of 28 judges working beyond regular hours. While this surge affects AIMA's services, the STA's leader insists the courts will maintain a relentless pace, affirming that the justice system cannot allow cases to stockpile without prompt answers for citizens.

Reinforcing staff

As a solution, the president of the STA stresses the urgent and critical need for a massive reinforcement of human and IT resources, urging the immediate creation of an extraordinary force of employees dedicated exclusively to court notifications and public service.

Jorge Aragão Seia further insists on legislative adjustments to inject greater flexibility into the administrative process, allowing immigrants lacking documentation to remain legally in the country while regularising pending issues, and directly preventing rejections from triggering automatic removal.

The magistrate also issued a clear warning to the Executive regarding its intentions to accelerate the forced removal of foreign citizens.

Without legislative changes properly aligned with EU regulations, Aragão Seia warns that the country risks a wave of legal challenges and potential convictions to pay compensation for violations of European law.

Alongside immigration issues, the administrative justice system is grappling with its own staff shortages and historical delays, with estimates suggesting that at least 60 more judges are needed to clear pending cases and meet the goal of resolving all cases prior to 2025 by 2029.

Growing concern

The sector's landscape is further marked by growing concern from the Supreme Court regarding the increase in delaying tactics and abusive appeals, which are already being penalised as bad-faith litigation.

At the same time, the court manages pressure from the tax justice system, where approximately €19 billion is currently held up in large-scale economic cases, such as those involving wind and photovoltaic farms.

According to the president of the Supreme Administrative Court (STA), reversing this overall scenario requires structural reform and an acceleration of the Centre for Judicial Studies' training of new judges, reducing the training period to 2 years to ensure a swift response to the country's needs.