What Is Happening at AIMA Anjos in Lisbon Right Now
On the morning of April 7, 2026, Portuguese police (PSP) were called to AIMA's main service centre in the Anjos district of Lisbon to manage a crowd of hundreds of migrants who had spent the night sleeping on the pavement outside the office. The queue extended along the full length of the street and continued along Avenida Almirante Reis — one of Lisbon's busiest arterial roads. Local shopkeepers, speaking to The Portugal News, described the situation as "a scandal, for them and for the shopkeepers who suffer this every single day." The intervention followed a pattern of escalating disorder outside AIMA offices across Portugal: earlier in the same week, police were also called to the Porto AIMA office, which had shut without warning on April 1.
The Anjos AIMA centre is the largest immigration processing office in Portugal and the primary point of contact for tens of thousands of applicants living in Greater Lisbon. Unlike the Porto closure — which was caused by a cultural mediator strike — the Lisbon situation is not a discrete event. It is the visible surface of a structural failure: a system so overwhelmed that people without appointments feel their only option is to sleep on the street in order to secure walk-in access the following morning. The disorder is not a result of any single policy change; it reflects the cumulative effect of years of under-resourcing relative to the volume of immigration to Portugal.
Why Hundreds Are Sleeping Overnight Outside AIMA
The AIMA appointment system — the formal online booking mechanism through which applicants are supposed to obtain scheduled appointments — has been running months-long wait times for new appointment slots. As of early 2026, AIMA's reported backlog exceeds 400,000 pending cases. The online portal releases appointment slots infrequently and in small batches; many applicants report refreshing the system multiple times daily for weeks without finding an available date. This creates a rational incentive to attempt walk-in access: if a scheduled appointment is not available for three or six months, and a legal deadline is approaching, arriving at the office before dawn appears to offer a faster path.
Walk-in access at Anjos is not an official AIMA procedure — it is a de facto practice that has emerged because the formal appointment system cannot absorb demand. AIMA does process a limited number of walk-in cases per day, typically people with urgent humanitarian circumstances or imminent legal deadlines. But the number of people attempting walk-in attendance far exceeds the daily capacity AIMA can accommodate. This means that even people who queue overnight may not be processed: arriving at the front of the informal queue at 6 a.m. does not guarantee that AIMA staff will see you when the office opens. The disorder arises precisely because this informal system has no rules, no queue management, and no mechanism for AIMA to communicate to hundreds of people simultaneously that most of them will not be seen that day.
It is worth noting that the population queuing overnight outside AIMA Anjos is not uniformly composed of recent arrivals or people without documentation. Many are long-term residents with established lives in Lisbon — people who have lived in Portugal for years, whose permits are simply caught in the renewal backlog. The AIMA staffing crisis has affected applicants across the full range of visa categories and personal circumstances.
The Government Response — and Its Limits
Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers António Leitão Amaro has stated publicly that the government intends to resolve AIMA's operational problems and does not want the agency's difficulties to persist into 2026. Portugal Resident reported that the minister pledged the issues would be resolved "very soon." AIMA has also announced several technical initiatives: the integration of NISS (social security number) insertion into its systems, expansion of service at specific offices, and the February 2026 launch of the online Renewal Portal as the mandatory channel for renewal applications.
These measures represent genuine attempts to improve processing capacity and reduce the need for in-person attendance. The Renewal Portal in particular should, over time, reduce walk-in demand by enabling applicants to submit documentation and initiate their renewal entirely online. However, the structural gap between AIMA's processing capacity and the volume of applications it receives has not been closed. The agency is simultaneously dealing with: the 400,000-case backlog inherited from the SEF-to-AIMA transition; the surge in new applications driven by immigration growth; ongoing staffing challenges including the subcontracted cultural mediator dispute; and the administrative burden of implementing the new nationality law framework approved by parliament on April 1, 2026. Against that background, the minister's promise of a "very soon" resolution must be understood as an aspiration rather than a firm commitment with a defined operational plan.
Civil society organisations and immigration lawyers have consistently argued that the government's response to the AIMA crisis has been reactive rather than structural. Each incident — the overnight queues, the Porto office closure, the police interventions — generates a government statement but not a change in the underlying capacity. Without significant new investment in AIMA's staffing, technology infrastructure, and physical premises, the conditions that produced the April 7 events in Anjos will continue to produce similar events in the weeks and months ahead.
What This Means If You Are Waiting for an AIMA Appointment in Lisbon
If you already have a confirmed AIMA appointment at the Anjos centre or another Lisbon location, the April 7 incident does not directly affect your scheduled appointment. AIMA's Anjos office is processing confirmed appointments normally — the police intervention on April 7 was directed at managing the informal walk-in crowd, not at people with scheduled dates. You should present yourself at your appointment time with your confirmation documentation. Do not arrive hours early in an attempt to join any informal queue: arriving at your scheduled time is both sufficient and appropriate.
However, if you are waiting for an appointment slot to become available and do not yet have a confirmed date, the Lisbon situation does have implications for your planning. First, do not rely on walk-in attendance as a strategy — the risk of spending a night on the street and still not being processed the following day is high. Second, if you have submitted an application through the AIMA Renewal Portal, that submission itself provides a degree of legal protection: you have initiated the process, and AIMA holds your application, even if the biometrics appointment has not yet been scheduled. Keep a copy of your submission confirmation. Third, monitor your AIMA portal account regularly for appointment notifications, which can arrive with relatively short notice once a slot becomes available.
If you are approaching or have passed an important legal deadline — such as the April 15, 2026 expired permit deadline — the calculus changes significantly. In that situation, waiting passively for an appointment slot is not a sufficient response, and you should take active legal steps rather than joining a street queue.
Legal Alternatives to Queuing In Person
For applicants in Lisbon who need to progress their AIMA application without joining the Anjos overnight queue, there are several practical alternatives that carry less risk and are more likely to be effective. The most straightforward is the AIMA Renewal Portal at portal.aima.gov.pt, which since February 2026 has been the mandatory channel for renewal submissions. Submitting your renewal online does not replace the biometrics appointment — you will still need to attend AIMA in person for biometrics — but it initiates your application formally and generates a reference number that supports any subsequent legal action.
A second alternative is working through a qualified immigration lawyer or registered legal representative. A lawyer can file on your behalf, correspond with AIMA directly, and navigate the system in ways that are not available to individual applicants. Critically, a lawyer can monitor appointment slot availability across multiple sessions and submit applications at the moment slots appear — something that is practically difficult for a working individual to do manually. The guide on when to hire an immigration lawyer in Portugal explains how to identify qualified practitioners. The AIMA power of attorney guide covers the formal process by which you can authorise a representative to act on your behalf.
A third alternative is requesting an appointment at a different AIMA office. While the Anjos centre is the largest and most accessible for Lisbon residents, AIMA operates offices in Faro, Braga, Coimbra, Setúbal, and other cities. If you are willing to travel, an appointment at a less pressured office may become available sooner than a Lisbon slot. The AIMA contact centre (808 202 653 within Portugal, +351 21 358 50 00 internationally) can advise on availability at other locations, though response times are long. Online booking through the AIMA portal also allows you to select the office location when searching for available slots.
When to Escalate: Court Orders and Urgent Judicial Protection
If you cannot obtain an AIMA appointment within a timeframe that protects your legal status — and particularly if your permit has expired or is at imminent risk of expiring without a pending renewal application on file — an emergency judicial action is your most reliable option. Under Portuguese administrative law, the Administrative Courts can issue injunctive orders compelling AIMA to schedule and process an appointment within a defined period, typically 10 to 30 working days. This mechanism is available regardless of how overwhelmed AIMA is: the court order does not wait for AIMA's backlog to clear; it places your case at the front of the queue by legal mandate.
The process is known formally as a providência cautelar or acção urgente para protecção de direitos fundamentais. It requires you to demonstrate that you have exhausted or attempted administrative channels (you have tried to book an appointment and cannot), that you face imminent harm (your legal status is at risk), and that the harm is not caused by any failure on your part. The guide to urgent judicial protection from AIMA delays explains the application process in full, including the documentation required and likely timelines.
Portuguese immigration lawyers report that these emergency judicial actions are granted in approximately 90% of cases that reach a judicial decision. The practical constraint is lead time: even on the urgent track, courts currently take 8 to 10 weeks to issue a ruling, given the volume of similar applications. This means that applicants who are already past an important deadline should file as soon as possible rather than continuing to attempt informal queue access. Every week spent waiting in the informal walk-in system is a week during which a court order could have been sought. The guide to filing a lawsuit against AIMA explains the broader litigation landscape, including compensation claims for cases where AIMA delays have caused quantifiable harm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe and legal to queue overnight outside AIMA Anjos in Lisbon?
Legally, waiting in a public street is permitted. Practically, it is neither safe nor effective. Police were called on April 7 because crowds were unmanageable. Arriving at dawn does not guarantee you will be processed that day — AIMA limits walk-in attendances, and informal queues have no management system. Walk-in attendance should be a last resort only if you face an imminent legal deadline and have exhausted all online and legal alternatives.
My AIMA appointment is at the Anjos Lisbon office — is it still running?
Yes. The Anjos office is processing scheduled appointments as of April 2026. The police intervention on April 7 concerned walk-in crowds, not people with confirmed bookings. Present yourself at your scheduled time with your confirmation. Do not arrive early to join any informal queue — scheduled appointment holders have priority over walk-in attendees.
I don't have an AIMA appointment and my permit is expiring — what should I do?
Do not join the overnight queue. Submit a renewal application through the AIMA Renewal Portal (portal.aima.gov.pt). If your permit expired before June 30, 2025, the April 15, 2026 extension deadline has now passed, which makes your situation legally urgent. Consult an immigration lawyer immediately about an emergency judicial action to compel AIMA to schedule an appointment.
Can I submit my AIMA renewal application online without going to Anjos?
Yes. Since February 16, 2026, the AIMA Renewal Portal is the mandatory channel for renewal applications. You submit documents online, and AIMA subsequently schedules a biometrics appointment. The initial submission does not require in-person attendance, so you do not need to go to Anjos just to start the process.
What is the government doing to fix the AIMA Lisbon overnight queue crisis?
The government has pledged to resolve AIMA's operational problems "very soon" and AIMA has introduced the online Renewal Portal and additional system integrations. However, no concrete measures have eliminated the structural gap between AIMA's processing capacity and the volume of applications. Civil society organisations and immigration lawyers continue to warn that reactive statements are insufficient without substantial new investment in AIMA's staffing and infrastructure.