The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum has been under intense pressure since it replaced SEF in October 2023, inheriting a huge backlog of immigration cases alongside responsibility for new applications.

Now the agency says it is entering a different phase, with more staff and a growing number of services moving online.

According to AIMA president Pedro Portugal Gaspar, the agency has added 125 employees since January, taking its workforce from 742 to 867.

A further 48 people are expected to join by the end of the year, bringing the total to 915.

Speaking to PÚBLICO Brasil, Gaspar said the agency was now in a position to focus more heavily on the quality of its service after a period dominated by the clearing of outstanding cases.

More services moving online

AIMA has been gradually shifting immigration procedures to digital platforms, which could reduce the need for applicants to visit its offices repeatedly.

One of the biggest changes has been the expansion of the online Renewals Portal.

Since July, EU nationals and their family members have been able to use the portal to apply for permanent residence certificates and cards, pay the relevant fees and upload their documents.

An in-person appointment is only required if biometric information needs to be collected, according to AIMA.

The portal is also being used for residence permits that expired or are due to expire between July 2025 and October 2026, as well as certain expired residence permits for investment.

For foreign residents who have spent months dealing with appointments, paperwork and uncertainty over renewals, the real test will be whether those changes translate into a noticeably easier service.

AIMA was created following the closure of SEF, with immigration responsibilities divided between several organisations. From the beginning, the new agency faced a backlog involving hundreds of thousands of outstanding cases.

A special task force was subsequently established to tackle those pending applications, while the Government introduced several changes to the way residence permits and renewals are handled.

Gaspar said the agency is now working to become more responsive to users while continuing to modernise its systems.

The additional recruitment should give AIMA more capacity to do that, although the impact will ultimately be measured by what applicants experience when they try to renew a permit, get an appointment or resolve a problem.

For Portugal’s large foreign population, that improvement will matter far more than the number of people sitting behind AIMA’s desks.