AIMA says it has scheduled a record 55,000 family-reunification appointments this year and issued 15,000 residence cards. Immigration lawyers counter that fewer than three in ten cases have actually been finalised, and want the agency to reveal the true size of the queue.
Your weekly roundup from the Minho: SC Braga grind into a Conference League play-off with Áustria Viena, the historic Confiança soap factory reopens as Portugal's largest public student residence, a tiger mosquito turns up in Guimarães, and the great August romarias begin.
Good morning. Here is your Friday briefing for 14 August 2026 — the day's essential Portugal stories, from a fast-moving wildfire that has burned some 15,000 hectares of the interior
Social Security inspectors shut an unlicensed Amadora daycare holding 50 children on 12 August, citing overcrowding, too few staff and windowless rooms. It was one of two coercive closures among 106 childcare inspections so far in 2026.
Darty, formerly MediaMarkt, will invest €10 million to open 40 stores in Portugal by 2030 after the competition regulator cleared its purchase of 11 Staples outlets. The move sharpens its challenge to market leader Worten.
Portuguese drone maker Tekever is in talks to raise up to €500 million in a round that could value it at €5.5 billion, one of the country's most valuable private firms. The figures are in-negotiation, amid a surge of investment into European defence tech.
Portugal's airports handled 7.1 million passengers in June, down 0.1% year on year — the first decline after five record months, INE says. First-half traffic still rose 2.5%, with Porto up 7.0% while Lisbon grew just 1.3%.
