AIMA Tells EU Nationals With Paper Residence Cards to Renew Online — and to Drop the Leading Zero
AIMA has issued fresh guidance for EU citizens and their non-EU family members who still hold paper Residence Cards, directing them to renew through the online Renewals Portal. The catch: when entering the card number, holders must ignore the leading zero — enter 11641, not 011641 — or the form will
Anyone still carrying an old paper residence card in Portugal has a new set of instructions to follow — and a small but easily missed technical quirk that can stop a renewal in its tracks. On Thursday, AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo — Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum) published fresh guidance for European Union citizens, and their non-EU family members, who still hold Cartões de Residência (Residence Cards, or CR) issued on paper rather than in the modern card format.
Who this affects
The notice is aimed at a specific group: nationals of EU member states, plus family members of EU nationals who hold a third-country nationality, whose residence document is one of the older paper-issued cards. These cards were granted under the EU free-movement regime rather than the general immigration law that governs most non-EU residents, and many were handed out years ago, before Portugal moved its residence paperwork onto a digital footing. If your card is a plastic biometric card, this particular guidance does not apply to you.
The leading-zero catch
AIMA is directing these holders to renew through its online Portal de Renovações (Renewals Portal), the same channel the agency has been steering residents toward all year. The wrinkle is in how the card number is entered. According to AIMA, holders of paper CRs must ignore the first zero on the left when typing their card number into the portal.
The agency's own example is blunt about it: if the card shows the number 011641, the number to enter is 11641. That rule applies exclusively to the paper cards — a detail that sounds trivial but is exactly the kind of mismatch that generates a rejected form and a frustrated applicant convinced the system is broken.
If the portal still refuses the request
AIMA acknowledges that even with the correct number, some paper-card holders may be unable to complete the renewal online. In that case, the agency asks applicants to email [email protected] with a precise subject line — "Portal de Renovações, Agendamento CR papel, impossibilidade submeter pedido" — and to include their personal details along with a copy of the paper card in the body of the message. The agency says it remains available to support anyone who needs to renew one of these older documents.
What This Means for Expats
- Check your document type first: This guidance is only for EU citizens and their non-EU family members holding paper Residence Cards. It sits alongside AIMA's wider digital push — the agency has already opened online renewals for residence permits expiring in July and August.
- Mind the number: Drop the leading zero when entering an old paper CR number. It is the single most likely reason a renewal will bounce.
- Keep a paper trail: If the portal fails, the email route is official — use the exact subject line AIMA specifies and attach a copy of the card, so your request lands in the right queue rather than a general inbox.
For a subset of long-settled residents, this is a reminder that Portugal's migration paperwork is steadily migrating online — and that the smoothest way through the new system is often to read the fine print before the form throws you out.
