Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) has begun to clear the backlog of Golden Visa applications, processing 6,000 of the 46,000 pending files and scheduling appointments for roughly 30,000 more, according to Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro’s testimony to parliament.
Current backlog and agency capacity
- Pending applications: 46,000 Golden Visa cases remain unprocessed.
- Processed to date: 6,000 applications have been fully processed.
- Scheduled appointments: About 30,000 biometric appointments have been booked.
- Agency staffing: AIMA’s workforce increased from 723 to 850 employees.
- Family reunification: 55,000 appointments made in 2024, with 26,000 permits granted—well above the historical annual average of under 20,000.
Appointments vs. decisions
Scheduling an appointment does not guarantee a decision. Practitioners note that the bottleneck has shifted from biometric collection to the period between biometrics and the final decision. The speed at which scheduled appointments convert into permits will determine whether the government meets its 2026 backlog‑clearance target.
Two parallel processing streams
- Pre‑2025 paper procedure – Applicants who submitted biometrics before 2025 follow an older, slower paper‑based workflow. These cases, dating from 2021‑2024, still experience longer analysis times.
- Post‑January 2025 digital procedure – New filings use a fully digital system, resulting in faster handling. Practitioners report:
- 8–9 months from submission to biometric invitation for recent cases.
- ≈1 month after payment of the issuance fee for the first residence card.
- ≈14 months total (submission → card) for applications filed today, with a biometric appointment typically set for May 2027 and the card issued by year‑end.
Other firms advise a more conservative estimate of ≈18 months from submission to the first residence card, emphasizing the need for complete documentation before the biometric appointment to avoid additional delays.
Impact on citizenship timeline
Portugal’s nationality law, effective 19 May 2024, starts the residence‑clock for citizenship when the first residence permit is issued. Non‑EU investors must then complete ten years of residence. Consequently, a filing today would reach citizenship eligibility 11 – 11.5 years after submission, given the 14‑18 month processing window for the initial permit.
Recent procedural changes
- Online renewals: Since 16 February 2025, renewals are processed entirely through AIMA’s portal, eliminating in‑person congestion.
- Application tracking: Applicants can now monitor their case status online, improving transparency.
- Appointment volume: Firms report a noticeable increase in biometric appointments and a steady flow of approvals following these changes.
Outlook
The average processing time reported by IMI’s Q2 survey rose to 50.4 months, up from 43.9 months in Q1, because the survey counts completed files from filing to permit. As AIMA converts the 30,000 scheduled appointments into decisions, the average may climb further before newer, faster‑processed files begin to lower it. The ultimate reduction of the backlog will depend on AIMA’s ability to match analyst capacity with the scheduled volume and maintain the digital workflow’s efficiency.
Source article: www.imidaily.com
