A Residence Refusal From AIMA Now Comes With an Order to Leave Portugal Within 20 to 30 Days, and Lawyers Say the First Cases Have Arrived

A refused residence application from AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum) is no longer a first warning. Since 11 September, the refusal itself carries a legal duty to leave Portugal within 20 to 30 days, and immigration lawyers say the first cases under the new wording are now reaching their offices, Público Brasil reported on Wednesday.

"The refusal is no longer a first notice: it is, itself, the order to leave," the immigration lawyer Juliana Guitti told the paper.

What the law now says

The change comes from Lei n.º 62/2026 (Law 62/2026) of 10 September, known as the Return Law (Lei do Retorno), which rewrote parts of the Foreigners Law (Lei n.º 23/2007) and came into force the next day. We reported in August that the Constitutional Court cleared all eleven of its contested norms.

The new Article 138 of the Foreigners Law says that a foreign national notified of an administrative decision refusing an application to stay or to reside, or cancelling a visa or residence permit, "must leave national territory" within the period set in the decision, which is between 20 and 30 days. In practice:

• The clock starts with the refusal. Until 10 September, a refusal was usually followed by a separate voluntary departure notice (Notificação de Abandono Voluntário, NAV) with 10 to 20 days to go. AIMA's NAV page now carries a notice that it describes the rules in force until that date.
• The deadline can be extended. The national director of the PSP (Polícia de Segurança Pública, the Public Security Police) may extend it, taking into account how long the person has lived in Portugal, children at school, other family members and social ties.
• It goes on the Schengen record. The duty to leave, with its deadline, is entered in the Schengen Information System as a return alert for one year.
• The refusal must explain itself. The law requires the decision to state its grounds, the right to challenge it in court and the deadline for doing so.

This is not immediate deportation: the person still has the set period to leave on their own. If they do not, the PSP can open coercive removal proceedings. Under the same law, time in a temporary detention centre can now last up to 180 days, extendable once by the same period where the person does not cooperate or travel documents are delayed. Those centres are already short of places.

How many people it could reach

Público Brasil, citing the Annual Internal Security Report (RASI), says the authorities issued 23,134 voluntary departure notices in 2025, against 444 the year before.

Some people remain protected from expulsion under Article 135, as amended, unless they have been convicted of serious crimes or are suspected of terrorism or crimes against state security. They include:

• people born in Portugal who have lived here for at least five years;
• people who arrived before the age of 10 and have lived here for at least five years;
• parents of minor children who are legal residents, where the parent actually exercises parental responsibility and supports and educates the children.

What to do if you receive a refusal

Note the date you were notified, because the deadline runs from it, and read the grounds and challenge deadline in the letter. A refusal is challenged by an action before an administrative court. Guitti told Público Brasil that the action alone does not stop the duty to leave from taking effect, so she advises also filing an urgent request to suspend the decision (providência cautelar) while the court looks at the case. Keep proof of residence, work, children's school enrolment and family ties: they support both a court challenge and a request to the PSP for more time.

Anyone who cannot afford a lawyer can ask Social Security for legal aid (apoio judiciário). "Never ignore a refusal notice from AIMA," Guitti said.