The July 1, 2026 Announcement: What Was Actually Said
On July 1, 2026, during a parliamentary committee hearing before the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, Rui Armindo Freitas — the Secretary of State's assistant for immigration — confirmed that AIMA still has "approximately 30,000 cases yet to be concluded" from the original Mission Structure backlog. He described the remaining files as "somewhat more complex cases that require analysis or for the applicants themselves to be contacted."
The statement came during a broader progress report on AIMA's backlog reduction operation. The numbers presented were significant: by early July 2026, the Mission Structure had dealt with approximately one million pending cases inherited from the SEF era, completing more than 771,000 appointments and issuing over 500,000 residence permit cards. The 30,000 remaining cases represent roughly 3% of the total original backlog — the most resistant fraction of a backlog that had paralysed Portuguese immigration services for years.
The announcement is significant because it signals that AIMA considers the backlog fundamentally resolved — in the sense that the extraordinary processing operation is over — while acknowledging a rump of harder cases that require individual attention. For applicants still waiting, the framing as "complex" rather than "forgotten" matters: it means AIMA is aware these cases exist and actively working through them, not simply ignoring them.
From One Million to 30,000: The Mission Structure in Numbers
The Mission Structure (Estrutura de Missão) was created in mid-2024 specifically to address the catastrophic backlog that had accumulated since AIMA replaced SEF in October 2023. SEF left AIMA with a backlog estimated at close to one million pending decisions — cases that had been in the queue for months or years without resolution. The Mission Structure operated from mid-2024 through December 31, 2025, with a dedicated team and additional resources focused exclusively on clearing the inherited caseload.
By the numbers, the Mission Structure's output was substantial: over 525,000 files decided, 771,000 appointments completed, and 500,000 residence cards issued. These figures, presented to Parliament in June and July 2026, represent the bulk of the inherited backlog being resolved within roughly 18 months. The Porto office of the Mission Structure was a central processing hub, handling a large share of the appointments and decisions.
The 30,000 remaining cases are not a sign of failure but of realistic expectations. Any sufficiently large administrative caseload will have a hard tail of cases that cannot be processed through a standard pipeline — they require individual examination, cross-referencing with external databases, or direct contact with applicants who have moved or become unreachable. The question for people in this category is not whether their cases will be decided, but when and under what conditions.
What "Complex Cases" Typically Look Like
AIMA's categorisation of the 30,000 remaining cases as "complex" covers several distinct types of difficulty. The first and most common type involves incomplete contact information: the applicant's address on file with AIMA is outdated, and AIMA needs to reach them to request additional documents or confirm information before issuing a decision. This is particularly common for cases that have been in the queue for two or more years, during which the applicant may have moved. If this applies to you, ensuring AIMA has your current address via the contactenos portal is the immediate priority.
The second type involves documentary inconsistencies that AIMA's reviewers cannot resolve without either requesting new documents or conducting internal legal analysis. This includes cases where name mismatches appear between documents submitted at different stages of a multi-year process, cases where the supporting documents for a permit category have changed in the intervening period (making the original submission technically incomplete under current standards), and cases where an employer's status has changed since the original application was filed.
The third type involves legal complexity: cases that require AIMA's legal team rather than administrative officers to decide. This includes cases that are the subject of pending court proceedings, cases where citizenship or nationality status is in dispute, and cases involving exceptional circumstances that do not fit standard permit categories. These cases are inherently slower because AIMA's legal review capacity is more limited than its administrative processing capacity.
A fourth type involves security or criminal record issues: cases where a database check returned a flag that requires internal review before AIMA can issue a positive or negative decision. These cases are rare but can remain open for extended periods while agencies communicate with each other.
The Porto Office: Where Unresolved Cases Are Being Handled
The Mission Structure's Porto office was explicitly identified as remaining available to support unresolved applications from the original backlog after the Mission Structure formally closed in December 2025. Porto operated as one of the highest-throughput locations during the backlog clearance operation, handling cases from across Portugal rather than just the northern region.
If your case was part of the original Mission Structure backlog, Porto is the operational continuity point. In practical terms, this means your file may be physically or digitally located in Porto's processing queue even if you live in Lisbon, Algarve, or elsewhere in Portugal. This is relevant for scheduling: any in-person requirement arising from your case (additional biometrics, document submission, identity verification) may need to happen in Porto or require explicit AIMA scheduling through the contactenos form.
For new applications filed after January 2026, the Porto office functions as a regular AIMA processing centre rather than a Mission Structure continuity hub. The distinction matters if you are trying to reach the team responsible for a specific old case — reference the Mission Structure or identify the case as pre-2026 in your contactenos enquiry.
How to Find Out If Your Case Is in the 30,000
There is no public list of cases in the 30,000 remaining tranche, so the only way to determine whether your file is one of them is through AIMA's own systems. Log into the AIMA services portal at services.aima.gov.pt and check the status displayed for your application. Statuses of "Em análise" (under analysis) or "Pendente" (pending) without any update for more than six months are strong indicators that your file has stalled in the complex case category.
If your last AIMA interaction was with the Mission Structure (i.e., prior to December 31, 2025) and you have received no subsequent communication — no decision letter, no appointment notification, no request for documents — and the status has not moved, your case is very likely in the 30,000. Submit a formal status query via contactenos.aima.gov.pt referencing your application number, the date of your last appointment or contact, and the current portal status. Ask explicitly whether your file has been transferred from the Mission Structure to AIMA's regular processing and which office is now responsible for it. Formal written queries create an administrative record and are more likely to produce a response than informal follow-up.
The AIMA contact centre phone line (300 003 246 on weekdays 09:00–17:00) can confirm basic status information but typically cannot provide the level of case-specific detail needed to understand why a file is in the complex category. Phone calls are useful for confirming whether any communication was sent to you that you may have missed; they are less useful for understanding substantive case status.
Options If Your Application Has Been Stuck for Over a Year
If your AIMA application has been open for more than a year without a decision and you are suffering real legal consequences — you cannot renew your employment contract, you cannot travel, you are separated from family members, or your legal status is precarious — the following options are available in 2026 in order of cost and escalation:
Formal contactenos enquiry: Start here. A formal written enquiry through the contactenos portal creates an administrative record of your follow-up and sometimes prompts movement on a stalled file. Reference your case number, the date of original submission, the time elapsed, and any legal consequences you are experiencing. Ask AIMA to provide a specific timeline for decision. This costs nothing and should be done before any other step.
Pedido de urgência through a lawyer: An immigration lawyer can file a formal urgency request (pedido de urgência) with AIMA citing the elapsed time and the prejudice you are suffering. This carries more weight than an individual's contactenos query because it signals that legal action is being considered. Many cases that have been stalled for over a year move within weeks of a lawyer filing a formal urgency letter.
Administrative court injunction (providência cautelar): A Portuguese administrative law firm can file an application in the administrative court requesting that the court order AIMA to issue a decision within a specified timeframe — typically 60 to 90 days. This route has been used extensively since 2024 and is well-established. Administrative courts have been granting these injunctions in cases where AIMA has failed to act within a reasonable timeframe, and AIMA typically complies with court orders. The process takes several months and involves legal fees, but it is currently one of the most reliable ways to compel action on a truly stalled file.
Provedor de Justiça (Ombudsman): The Portuguese Ombudsman's office can receive complaints about administrative inaction by government agencies including AIMA. The Ombudsman cannot force AIMA to decide a case, but they can formally investigate and issue recommendations. Filing an Ombudsman complaint is a less aggressive step than court action and may produce results in cases where AIMA has been unresponsive to contactenos queries.
Frequently Asked Questions
See the Q&A panel above for answers on how many cases remain open in July 2026, what complex case status means, who handles backlog cases after the Mission Structure closed, how to check whether your case is still pending, and what options you have if your application has been open for over a year.