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immigration

Immigration policy, visa changes, and the expat experience in Portugal.

Polícia Judiciária Records 177 New Marriage-of-Convenience Investigations in 2025 — Manifestação de Interesse Revocation Lifts the File 58% Above the 2024 Count

Polícia Judiciária Records 177 New Marriage-of-Convenience Investigations in 2025 — Manifestação de Interesse Revocation Lifts the File 58% Above the 2024 Count

PJ opened a record 177 new marriage-of-convenience investigations across 2025 — 65 cases above 2024. The unit ties the climb directly to the June 2024 revocation of the manifestação de interesse mechanism and the irregular files now flowing into the system.

The Portugal Brief 23 May 2026

Voluntary Return Programme Sends 1,086 Irregular Migrants Home Since UNEF Standup in August 2025 — Brazilian Nationals Dominate the OIM and Frontex Files

Voluntary Return Programme Sends 1,086 Irregular Migrants Home Since UNEF Standup in August 2025 — Brazilian Nationals Dominate the OIM and Frontex Files

PSP's UNEF logged 1,086 voluntary departures of irregular migrants between August 2025 and end-April 2026 — 665 in 2025 and 421 across the first four months of 2026. Frontex carried 561 cases, OIM 525. Brazilians dominate the cohort.

The Portugal Brief 23 May 2026

Ministério Público Charges Thirty-One Including a DGACCP Consular Officer Over a €21 Million Fraudulent-Legalisation Scheme — Seven Held in Pre-Trial Detention as PJ-UNCT Files Money-Laundering and Active-Corruption Counts

Ministério Público Charges Thirty-One Including a DGACCP Consular Officer Over a €21 Million Fraudulent-Legalisation Scheme — Seven Held in Pre-Trial Detention as PJ-UNCT Files Money-Laundering and Active-Corruption Counts

The Ministério Público announced an indictment on Friday 22 May 2026 charging 31 defendants — including an employee of the Direcção-Geral dos Assuntos Consulares e Comunidades Portuguesas (DGACCP) — over an organised scheme that fraudulently...

The Portugal Brief 23 May 2026

CPLP Residents Carry a Two-Year Lead Under the New Lei da Nacionalidade — 220,000 Title-Holders Enter the Seven-Year Track as the 19 May Reform Doubles the Wait for Other Foreigners to Ten

CPLP Residents Carry a Two-Year Lead Under the New Lei da Nacionalidade — 220,000 Title-Holders Enter the Seven-Year Track as the 19 May Reform Doubles the Wait for Other Foreigners to Ten

The Lei da Nacionalidade revision that took effect on Tuesday 19 May 2026 raises the residency requirement for ordinary naturalisation from five years to ten for most foreigners — but only to seven for citizens of the Comunidade dos Países de Língua...

The Portugal Brief 22 May 2026

Forty Immigrants Lodge AIMA Complaints Over Forged Residency Authorisations — Colombian Civil-Construction Workers Carry the Bulk of the 'Agenciador' Scheme

Forty Immigrants Lodge AIMA Complaints Over Forged Residency Authorisations — Colombian Civil-Construction Workers Carry the Bulk of the 'Agenciador' Scheme

A group of 40 foreign workers, the majority of them Colombian nationals recruited into Portugal's civil-construction sector, filed formal complaints with the Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (AIMA) over forged residency authorisations...

The Portugal Brief 21 May 2026

Presidency Office Tells ECO the Gold-Visa Programme Was Never Designed to Grant Citizenship as 500-Plus Investors Pool a Collective Lawsuit Over the Five-to-Ten-Year Nationality-Law Stretch

Presidency Office Tells ECO the Gold-Visa Programme Was Never Designed to Grant Citizenship as 500-Plus Investors Pool a Collective Lawsuit Over the Five-to-Ten-Year Nationality-Law Stretch

In written responses to ECO on 19 May, the Presidency Office told gold-visa investors the State 'legislated on residence authorisations for investment' and never set out to grant nationality. The defence lands as 500-plus ARI holders pool a collective lawsuit.

The Portugal Brief 19 May 2026

MAI Luís Neves Opens Extra Manual Border-Control Boxes at Humberto Delgado From 29 May, Promises PSP Reinforcement in July After Lisbon and Porto Queues Cross Two Hours

MAI Luís Neves Opens Extra Manual Border-Control Boxes at Humberto Delgado From 29 May, Promises PSP Reinforcement in July After Lisbon and Porto Queues Cross Two Hours

The Ministério da Administração Interna (MAI) opens additional manual border-control boxes at Aeroporto Humberto Delgado from Thursday 29 May 2026 , scales the number of e-gates at the same terminal, and routes new PSP officers into airport border...

The Portugal Brief 19 May 2026

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