How to Get an AIMA Appointment: Take Them to Court?

Imagine this: You’re ready for your Portuguese adventure, excited about your new life, but there’s a snag – you can’t get an appointment with AIMA (Immigration and Borders Service).

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re part of a rather large group all trying to do the same thing.

The AIMA Appointment Challenge

Here’s the situation: AIMA is dealing with a backlog of about 400,000 cases. That’s roughly 4% of Portugal’s population – quite a significant number!

At Portugalist, we receive daily messages from frustrated people who’ve hit roadblocks trying to book an appointment. Phone calls often go unanswered, as do emails, and the website proves difficult to navigate. If you do manage to get through to someone on the phone, they simply tell you there are no appointments available.

The Unexpected Solution: Legal Action

Here’s where things take an interesting turn. More and more lawyers are taking AIMA to court to secure appointments for their clients. It might sound unusual, but suing AIMA is becoming increasingly common as a way to get an AIMA appointment.

It’s not ideal, and it does come with a cost, but that’s exactly what Ines Silva has been doing on behalf of clients of visas.pt.

Who’s Affected?

The Fortunate Ones: Many people are automatically given their AIMA appointment when they apply for their visa (e.g., D7 or Digital Nomad Visa). They can move to Portugal, have one appointment, and then ideally not need to deal with AIMA again until renewal time in two years. (Fingers crossed things will be better by then!). Those moving as EU/EEA/Swiss citizens also do not need an AIMA appointment initially, however, their family members do.
The Less Fortunate: Some people are not given an AIMA appointment automatically. They move to Portugal and are told to contact AIMA by phone, email, or via the website. If they manage to get through on the phone, they’re often told no appointments are available. Similarly, many on golden visa applications have been in a backlog that goes back several years.
The Renewal Group: Appointments for renewals are not given automatically. This means everyone who comes up for renewal falls into this category.

The Legal Route: What’s Involved?

We spoke with Ines Silva from visas.pt, who’s been handling these cases. Here’s what she shared:

All of her court cases have been approved so far.
While it might seem drastic, Ines explains, “We’re in the right here. The only way to correct this is by taking decisive action.”
Initially, cases could be resolved in 1-2 weeks. Now, with increased demand, it’s taking 8-10 weeks. As more and more people start taking AIMA to court, this delay is likely to increase.

However, Ines notes that this is an “urgent procedure” and so for you to invoke this procedure we need to show it’s urgent. Now that all residency cards are valid until June 2025 (even if they’ve expired), a lawyer would need to justify why an urgent procedure would be needed. However, she did note that needing to leave the country or even just wanting to leave, would likely be considered an urgent procedure.

The Alternative: Waiting It Out

You could choose to wait. This is the cheapest option, but it does leave you in legal limbo. It also isn’t ideal if you suddenly need to leave Portugal to go back home.

AIMA has stated they’ll clear the backlog by June 2025. However, given the 400,000 case backlog and staff strikes until the end of the year, many are skeptical about this timeline.

Ines notes that AIMA staff are on strike until the end of the year regarding overtime work on these cases, which is understandable. AIMA has also hired a taskforce of 300 people, which doesn’t seem sufficient, and they offered lawyers €7 per case. Unsurprisingly, most lawyers haven’t taken AIMA up on the offer.

The Cost of Legal Action

Here’s what you need to know about the costs:

It’s considered a “very urgent procedure,” so it’s exempt from court and state fees.
You only pay lawyer fees. For example, visas.pt charges €795 + VAT.

Understandably, many people will be against the principle of having to pay to take AIMA to court. After all, this is not their problem and most will have already paid legal fees to move to Portugal. However, it is

How to Proceed with Legal Action

The requirements are fairly simple:

Supply all documents to the lawyer.
Sign a power of attorney.
The lawyer will draw up a petition, submit it to court, and wait for AIMA to be notified.

Initially, AIMA didn’t reply to these legal actions, but now they’ve hired a law firm and are responding. Of course, the number of responses may reduce as more and more people do this and if AIMA doesn’t hire additional law firms to deal with the mounting court cases.

Key Takeaways

If you’re considering this option, it’s advisable to act sooner rather than later. These cases are given priority over individual applications.

Ines recommends working directly with a lawyer, as there are cases where people are hiring companies that subcontract lawyers. You can verify a lawyer’s credentials on the Portuguese Bar Association website or request to see their professional card if meeting in person.

So there you have it! While it may not be the most conventional path, taking legal action has become a viable option for many in securing their AIMA appointments. It’s certainly an interesting chapter in the story of moving to Portugal, but if it helps you progress with your relocation plans, it might just be worth considering.