According to provisional data presented today at the Hindu Center in Lisbon, the revenue generated by AIMA's mission structure was 101 million euros and operating costs were around 39 million euros.

Between costs and revenues, the balance is €62 million, and the accounts do not yet include the revenue and costs of family reunification processes.

Initially, with over one million pending cases, the data indicates that 93% of cases related to expressions of interest, 72% related to CPLP residence permits, 52% related to transitional regimes, and 10% related to residence permit renewals have been resolved.

During the presentation of the figures, the Minister of the Presidency considered that the number of cases pending for more than a year translated into indignity and "people with their lives on hold."

"By bringing order to these processes and resolving these delays, we are closing the door to criminals. That's how it's done, by applying the laws. Order isn't restored and criminal behaviour isn't stopped by shouting and ordering people away," added Antônio Leitão Amaro.

Rejected cases

In total, almost 387,000 pending cases were decided, and of these, more than 59,000 were rejected. Regarding the rejections, the Minister of the Presidency explained that “a significant portion, at least, entered the country under illegal conditions that the laws of the time no longer permitted.”

At the end of the year, the work carried out by this mission structure will be transferred to AIMA, and according to the general coordinator of the mission structure, Luís Goes Pinheiro, this will be a “smooth transition without an immediate reduction in AIMA's capacity.”

The Mission Structure for the Recovery of Pending Processes was foreseen in the Action Plan for Migration, was created in July 2024, and had a validity of one year. However, in May of this year, the Government decided to extend this work until the end of 2025.

The new rules for immigrants in Portugal came into effect in June 2024, and one of the 41 measures of the Action Plan for Migration implied the end of expressions of interest, but approximately 440,000 applications were still pending, and a mission structure was created to resolve pending cases.