RelyOn Relocation® News

Portugal’s High Council for Administrative and Tax Courts has described the situation with cases against AIMA as critical. As of January 7, around 124,793 cases related to residence permits, renewals and family reunification were pending.
The council approved 50 urgent, nationwide judicial positions for three months, with a possible extension. Judges will work under defined performance targets and monitoring mechanisms.
This measure is expected to help speed up long-delayed cases and reduce the overall backlog.

On January 9, the Portuguese Parliament approved a package of housing measures. The initiative was backed by PSD, CDS-PP and IL, with Chega abstaining.
The package combines tax incentives with changes to licensing, urban planning and renovation rules. VAT will be reduced from 23% to 6% for homes priced up to €648,000 or rentals up to €2,300 per month.
The measures are expected to remain in force until the end of the current government’s term.

AIMA is asking immigrants to review and update their registered address and Social Security number (NISS). Updates can be made online via the AIMA contact form under Renewal Portal, selecting the relevant issue.
This is especially important if you have moved or changed apartments. All official AIMA correspondence is sent to the address on file.
Keeping your details up to date helps prevent delays and missed notifications.

AIMA advises residents who applied for permit renewal to always carry their expired card and proof of application, due to document checks by UNEF. Residence permits expired before June 30, 2025 remain valid until April 15, 2026.
Appointments for permits expiring in January–February 2026 will open soon.
The Estrutura de Missão will close, transferring all cases to regular AIMA offices.
A long-term resident status appointment option has also reappeared on the portal for the first time in years.

Between January and October 2025, over 1 million foreign workers paid €3.1 billion into Segurança Social while receiving only €613 million in benefits.
This means immigrants contributed about five euros for every euro received. Their share of total contributions grew from 6.5% in 2021 to around 12.4% in 2024–2025.
Without immigrant contributions, social security payments for Portuguese workers would need to rise by more than 10%.
According to Expresso, immigration clearly strengthens Portugal’s social security system.

Portugal’s Constitutional Court has ruled several key amendments to the citizenship law unconstitutional. These include stripping naturalised citizens of nationality for serious crimes and vague grounds for refusing citizenship.
The court also blocked applying stricter naturalisation timelines to applications already submitted.
At the same time, longer timelines for new applicants were deemed constitutional.
The bill will now return to Parliament after a presidential veto.