In a joint hearing of the parliamentary committees on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees and on State Reform and Local Government regarding discrepancies in figures from AIMA and the National Institute of Statistics (INE), António Leitão Amaro detailed the number of pending cases that this and the previous executive managed, within the framework of a new, more restrictive migration policy, presented on 3 June 2024.

To the 385,000 foreigners who entered the system for the first time are added the 218,000 new immigrants processed by AIMA, which handled the regular service and all judicial processes.

933,000 notifications of pending processes were carried out and passed on to the mission structure, relating to 568,000 "single person services," the official explained, in response to questions from the Socialist Party.

525,000 decisions were made, with 51,622 rejections, and 458,000 residence cards have already been distributed to users.

In cases concerning new foreign residents who were already in Portugal at the beginning of June 2024, the total number of processes approved by the mission structure, as recorded by Lusa – expressions of interest (229,000), titles from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (140,000), and the transitional regularisation regime (16,000) – is 385,000 people, of whom 370,000 have already received the card.

“Historically, AIMA served 200,000 people” per year, and in 2025 alone, the agency and its mission structure carried out 771,000 services, explained Leitão Amaro.

One of the most emblematic changes was the end of the expression of interest, a legal figure that allowed the regularisation in Portugal of foreigners with tourist visas, provided they had sufficient contribution time for tax and social security.

In total, according to the Minister, “445,000 people were notified of their expression of interest” and, of these, “264,000 were served,” and decisions were made on 256,000 cases, with 229,000 approvals and 26,000 rejections.

225,000 resident cards have already been granted in connection with expressions of interest processes.