AIMA Cultural Mediators Call Strike for March 30, Warning the Immigration Agency Cannot Function Without Them

Portugal's immigration agency is facing another disruption. Cultural mediators at AIMA (Agencia para a Integracao, Migracoes e Asilo) have announced a strike for Sunday, March 30, demanding integration into the agency's permanent workforce after years of operating on precarious contracts through third-party organisations.

The action, convened by the Federacao Nacional dos Sindicatos dos Trabalhadores em Funcoes Publicas e Sociais (FNSTPS) and backed by the CGTP union federation, will be accompanied by a demonstration outside the seat of government in Lisbon.

Who Are the Cultural Mediators?

Cultural mediators are the frontline workers who deal directly with immigrants at AIMA's offices across Portugal. They translate, explain procedures, resolve problems, and bridge the gap between the bureaucracy and the people trying to navigate it. Many are themselves immigrants or children of immigrants, and they work in Portuguese, English, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, and other languages.

There are approximately 200 of them, and according to union leader Artur Sequeira, they represent "almost half of the workforce" at AIMA. The union's central claim is blunt: "Without cultural mediators, AIMA does not function. It does not open its doors."

The Precarious Employment Problem

The core grievance is structural. These workers are not employed by the Portuguese state. Instead, they are hired by partner associations and NGOs through protocols with AIMA — an arrangement inherited from the former Alto Comissariado para as Migracoes (ACM), which AIMA replaced in 2023.

In practice, this means mediators work full-time at AIMA offices, performing duties identical to civil servants, but without the corresponding job security, career progression, or standardised pay. As Sequeira told Lusa: "They are contracted by partner organisations and then work for the state as collaborators, but they end up working full-time."

The union accuses the state of violating its own labour law. Workers on fixed-term contracts performing permanent functions should, under Portuguese law, be integrated into the permanent workforce. The mediators have no defined salary scale, do not receive overtime pay, and lack the employment protections afforded to public servants.

A Security Concern

There is also a data security dimension. Mediators have access to sensitive immigration databases containing personal information about applicants, residency status, and legal proceedings. Yet they are not formally state employees, creating what Sequeira describes as "a situation of ambiguity" that raises questions about data governance and accountability.

This concern comes at a time when AIMA is already under scrutiny for its handling of the immigration backlog. The agency has been working through tens of thousands of pending cases, and any disruption to frontline services risks slowing progress further.

Why March 30 Matters for Immigrants

If you have an AIMA appointment scheduled for March 30, the strike could affect service delivery. Previous industrial actions at the agency have resulted in cancelled or delayed appointments, though minimum services are typically maintained for urgent cases.

The fact that the union had to send strike notices to the partner associations and NGOs that formally employ the mediators — rather than to AIMA or the government directly — underlines how convoluted the employment structure has become. As Sequeira noted, this procedural complexity "shows the state to which the State has arrived in its relationship with these workers."

Context: AIMA Under Pressure From All Sides

The strike adds to a growing list of challenges facing Portugal's immigration system. Parliament recently approved a deportation bill allowing up to 18 months of detention for undocumented migrants, while AIMA has faced criticism for fee increases of up to 33 percent and persistent backlogs that have left thousands waiting months for basic residency documentation.

At the same time, Portugal continues to attract significant immigration flows. The country's foreign-born population has grown rapidly, and the demand for AIMA services shows no sign of easing. Losing the workers who actually interface with applicants — or continuing to employ them on terms that undermine morale and retention — is a problem the government will eventually have to resolve.

The mediators' demand is straightforward: permanent public-sector contracts that reflect the permanent nature of the work they do. Whether the government acts before or after Sunday's strike will say a great deal about how seriously it takes the functioning of its own immigration system.