AIMA Reports a Record 55,000 Family-Reunification Bookings, but Lawyers Say Fewer Than Three in Ten End in a Residence Card

Portugal's immigration agency says it is having a record year on one of the most emotionally charged parts of its work — reuniting families split across borders. But the numbers it is celebrating have handed critics a fresh line of attack, because most of the cases it has opened have yet to end with anyone actually receiving a residence card.

AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum) told the newspaper Público that so far this year it has scheduled 55,000 family-reunification appointments, seen 32,000 people, and issued 15,000 residence cards — figures the agency presents as the highest on record.

The gap between a booking and a card

Immigration lawyers read the same figures very differently. The 15,000 cards delivered amount to fewer than three in ten of the 55,000 appointments booked — meaning, on their reading, that under 30% of cases have actually been finalised. They also question whether 55,000 captures the real size of the queue at all. The Brazilian community, the country's largest immigrant group with close to 600,000 documented residents, alone could account for a reunification backlog that dwarfs the headline figure, they argue, and they want AIMA to publish the total number of pending requests rather than only the cases it has chosen to open.

The rules themselves are demanding. To extend residence to a spouse, the sponsoring migrant must generally already hold at least two years of legal residence in Portugal and prove the family member lived under the same roof in the country of origin for at least 15 months. Lawyers also complain that AIMA has tightened reunification for holders of CPLP (Community of Portuguese-Language Countries) residence titles, narrowing a route many Brazilian and African families had relied on.

AIMA points to process changes it says will help. It has added a dedicated option in its online Contact Form for reunification cases where the family member is already in Portugal, with no age limit attached; separately, holders of consular family-reunification visas can now bring their appointments forward, while the agency has capped the validity of marriage certificates it will accept at six months. The 55,000, 32,000 and 15,000 figures are AIMA's own, supplied to Público, and the sub-30% completion rate is the lawyers' calculation from them.

What This Means for Expats

• A booking is not an approval: Being handed one of the 55,000 appointment slots is the start of the process, not the end. Budget for months between your appointment and a card, and keep proof of every submission.
• Get the cohabitation evidence right early: The 15-month "same roof abroad" test and the two-year residence threshold trip up many applications. Gather utility bills, tenancy records and dated correspondence before you file, not after.
• Watch the new deadlines: Marriage certificates are now only accepted if issued within the last six months, so time the paperwork to your appointment rather than obtaining it far in advance.
• Use the right channel: If your relative is already in Portugal, the new no-age-limit option in AIMA's Contact Form is the correct route; filing through the wrong form is a common cause of delay.

The dispute is, at heart, about which number tells the truth: the appointments AIMA has opened, or the cards families are still waiting for. For anyone in the queue, it is the second figure that counts — and, for now, it remains the smaller one. For context, see our coverage of the renewal of paper residence cards, the tail end of the regularisation backlog, and the government's promise of a faster lane for arrivals with a job and a home.