âŠand in more AIMA lawsuit news⊠the last bullet is infuriating
The Portuguese justice system has already imposed 17,000 scheduling of meetings with immigrants on the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA). Pedro Portugal Gaspar told Lusa in an interview that AIMA had to create an internal task force to respond to these notifications, filed by lawyers specializing in migration.
âŠâit was a merely instrumental condemnationâ to speed up agenda issues and today âthere are more than 17 thousand sentences always condemning AIMA and there is nothing to say, naturallyâ, because the organization âdid not comply with the agenda within 90 daysâ.
Currently, AIMA carries out a thousand consultations per day and the mission structure carries out around 800, and it is estimated that, soon, there could be 2,000 consultations per day , in the combination of the two
âWe are now going to enter this month of October with a great acceleration in relation to family reunification processesâ⊠This type of process has not been transferred to the mission structure that is resolving pending processes and is âan area in which we will move forwardâ, with priority over processes relating to changes of residence for investment.
Quite the opposite. This is the first public admission that the government is de-prioritizing our applications:
â This type of process has not transitioned to the mission structure that is resolving pending processes and is âan area in which we will move forwardâ, with priority over processes related to changes of residence for investment.â
So to get an âurgentâ lawsuit, my lawyer is saying that itâs best to be on a lease for a house in portugal to show you are trying to move there immediately. Check. He also says having job interviews lined up will help, anybody have experience with that? Like is just an email from the company sufficient? How did you prove you had a job interview scheduled?
Honestly, this is not what we signed up for. This is like creating a hideous frankenstein monster with mandatory requirements for investments related residency, employment related permit and physical presence related asylum requests all put together.
Had a video call with one of the senior folks on my legal team today to discuss initiating a lawsuit against AIMA and left the call fairly reassured. She indicated that the firm has had a very high success rate, with only 4 out of 110 filings not being ruled in their favor, and with the process currently taking about 3 months to get a ruling. That said, she did not give me the hard sell on filing. The reasons being that a) as an American I donât need a residency card to travel and b) there is basically unanimous consensus among her colleagues in the immigration field that the 5-year clock starts at initial online application and not at the biometric screening, so better to save money on the lawsuit and AIMA fees. On the second point she acknowledged that the regulations still need to be published, but would be very surprised if it didnât turn out that way. She indicated that they have already had more than ten citizenship applications approved based on the clock starting at initial application, so there is already a procedural precedent. Also she said that while there have been no preapprovals yet for June 2022 applicants, they are starting to get requests for additional information from AIMA, so it seems like work is now resuming after a post-election house cleaning of a bunch of high-level AIMA officials. Ultimately Iâve decided to wait a few months to see how things develop since my family has no imminent plans of moving to Portugal. However, for those who donât have visas that allow free travel or who have more urgency, it sounds like the legal route is still viable.
My data is opposite to what your legal team advised you:
My lawsuit was filed in May 2024. It is 5 months waiting now. No outcome.
Citizenship approved by new law: impossible. The total time for a citizenshipâs application to get approved is between 18-36 month. New law was only published 6 months ago. How can it be possible?
I still recommend that everyone should file lawsuit. The sooner the action is made, the better chance things move.
For those who can now enter the EU visa-free, itâs worth noting that ETIAS is coming into effect imminently. This effectively ends emergency travel (unless youâve already obtained the ETIAS, your passport hasnât since expired, and the ETIAS itself it hasnât expired) and makes holders of passports that were previously visa-free subject to an approval process that is functionally very similar to an e-visa.
So if this may be inconvenient to you, might be worthwhile to push the residence card process forward.
Quote from the ETIAS website:
"It is possible however that your application may take longer to process. If so, you will receive a decision within four days. Please note that this period could be extended by up to 14 days if you are requested to provide additional information or documentation, or up to 30 days if you are invited to an interview. This is why you should apply for an ETIAS travel authorisation well in advance of your planned journey.
If your application is refused, the email will provide the reasons for this decision. It will also include information about how to appeal, details of the competent authority, as well as the relevant time limit to appeal."
Before you say to yourself that the extended evaluation period wonât apply to you because itâs only for travelers from other less-privileged countries, remember that ETIAS is only for countries that currently enjoy visa-free travel to the EU, so those less-privileged countries donât have access to the ETIAS at all.
Thanks for sharing, if i can ask when did you initially submit your golden visa application?
Mine was submitted 18months ago and have no response leaving me wondering when things will progress!!!
Your biometrics was scheduled 2 months after filing that is a good turn around. Reading between the lines the lawsuit must have inspired AIMA to make your appointment date.
The list of acceptable Portuguese residency visas for which ETIAS is not required includes a line that reads âOTHER DOCUMENTS ISSUED TO THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS HAVING EQUIVALENT VALUE TO A RESIDENCE PERMITâ
Seems emergency or extended authorization should work in that case.
It could be a push to AIMA. However, still no final verdict of the court. Without a concrete verdict, God knows what is going to happen next.
If I had a verdict of the court indicating that aima had to assign biometric within X days (which theyâve done it) and within Y days aima had to send out the decision approve or not, then I could expect something.
And in case of having a verdict and aima does not obey, i could ask lawyer to launch another lawsuit.
But, for now, it is difficult to say what to do.
The dependents are my old parents. If they die before receiving the cards, then I will request my lawyer to file a big lawsuit asking aima to compensate and pay for all damages (both mentally and financially).
I initially obtained residency through the D7 program and had a residency card from September 2022 through September 2024. So, my residency card just expired last month.
In October 2023, I decided to switch to the GV as I knew I was going to be unable to complete the stay-requirements necessary to renew my old residency card. I submitted my application for the GV in October 2024.
Iâm still awaiting pre-approval for the GV and my residency has now lapsed.
Given my somewhat unique situation, do I have solid grounds for a lawsuit against AIMA? For context, I have a an apartment that Iâve been leasing since June 2021.
ETIAS approval lasts 3 years and only costs âŹ7, so if you just set yourself a calendar reminder to renew every 3 years, you still have emergency travel.
Still much easier than having to physically go an EU consulate and pay âŹ100 for a single trip visa.
You got a row to hoe, friend. Pre-approvals have been stuck in Dec. â21 for more than a yearâby far the longest delay since the inception of the program. Will they ever resume? Inquiring minds want to knowâŠ.
