AIMA Turns Three With About 89,000 Immigrant Court Cases Pending, and 23,945 Urgent Ones Without a Judge Since July
Courts that hear immigrants' cases against AIMA had about 89,000 pending in September, down from 124,793 in January. The judges' council says 23,945 urgent files have had no judge since July, and its special team now runs until at least 30 January 2027.
The Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum), AIMA, began work on 29 October 2023, taking over the administrative side of the abolished Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (Foreigners and Borders Service). Three years on, the Government says the inherited backlog is largely cleared, but the administrative courts, where immigrants sue AIMA over unanswered applications, still carry much of it.
How many cases are in court
The Conselho Superior dos Tribunais Administrativos e Fiscais (High Council of the Administrative and Tax Courts), CSTAF, which manages those courts, counted 124,793 pending cases against AIMA at the Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo de Lisboa (Lisbon Administrative Court) on 7 January 2026. On 18 September the figure had fallen to about 89,000, ECO reported on Thursday from CSTAF data, while new filings continued: 3,683 between 1 and 18 September, or about 204 a day.
From 7 April the council put 28 judges from across the country on these cases alongside their normal work. In a deliberation of 22 September, it says six of them have since left and that their files were ordered to be shared among the 21 who remain. The order went on 14 July to the Instituto de Gestão Financeira e Equipamentos da Justiça (Institute for Justice Financial Management and Equipment), IGFEJ, which runs the courts' IT system, and was still not carried out in late September. As a result, the council wrote, 23,945 urgent cases had no judge assigned since 14 July and could not be decided, affecting more than 20,000 foreign citizens.
What the court can order
Most of these cases are an intimação para proteção de direitos, liberdades e garantias (summons to protect rights, freedoms and guarantees) under article 109 of the administrative courts procedure code. It is an urgent action for when only a quick ruling can protect a right in time. Article 111 says the judge decides within five days once the necessary steps are complete, tells the authority exactly what it must do and by when, and can fine the official responsible for every day the order is ignored. In practice, a win usually means AIMA must schedule an appointment or decide the application by a deadline; the court does not grant the permit itself. Appeal judges have also ruled on how AIMA weighs Schengen alerts against applicants.
What AIMA and the Government say was cleared
The mission structure set up in 2024 to clear the backlog closed on 31 December 2025. Its final balance, presented on 18 December, said it began with about 1 million pending files, including some 450,000 manifestações de interesse (expressions of interest), a route closed in 2024. By its provisional count it sent 938,500 notifications, took 386,791 decisions (327,597 approvals and 59,194 refusals) and issued 311,316 residence permits. At a parliamentary hearing on 7 October, Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said 98 percent of the cases it covered were resolved, with about 5,000 expressions of interest left, ECO reported.
What happens next
The Government has named board member César Teixeira to replace Pedro Portugal Gaspar as AIMA's president, with integration as the stated priority. The special team of judges, due to stop on 31 October, will now run until at least 30 January 2027, and longer if the files stay unassigned: the council added back the days lost since 14 July.
For people whose permits are expiring, AIMA's portal now takes online renewals for permits expiring by 31 January 2027. If your case is already in court, ask your lawyer whether it is among the files still waiting for a judge.
