Author
While this was not an official practice, since 2024 CPR has observed that AIMA systematically deems applications lodged by Venezuelans as unfounded within accelerated procedures (notably on grounds of irrelevance).[1][2] This had already been SEF’s practice,[3] which subsequently referred the cases to regularisation procedures through the humanitarian clause of the exceptional regularisation regime of the Immigration Act.[4] In the decisions analysed by CPR, AIMA does not refer the cases to this regime however.
In the first semester of 2024, CPR has received reports of applicants that described being told by AIMA officials that no positive decisions are issued to applicants from certain nationalities, notably Gambia and Senegal. Within the context of the right of reply of the authorities to the 2023 draft AIDA report, AIMA denied that this occurred.[5] Nonetheless, according to data collected by CPR based on the communications made by the authorities in line with the Asylum Act and contacts from asylum applicants, these countries were repeatedly considered safe countries of origin by the authorities since 2024.
Following the fall of Bashar Al Assad’s regime and the stance of some EU Member States, in December 2024 the Government guaranteed that no change would occur in the international protection status of the Syrian population in Portugal, nor any change would be introduced to the processing of asylum applications for the time being. It further stated that it would continue to monitor the situation and that any future decision would be in line with the EU.[6] There were no further developments in 2025.
In 2025, AIMA confirmed that it had adopted a fast-track processing on the basis of nationality, in cases of Afghan women and families admitted in Portugal under the Humanitarian Admission Programme. The prioritisation was justified by the well-established risk profile of Afghanistan, high recognition rates, and the straightforward nature of these cases, which did not require complex factual or legal assessment. As a result, 35 cases of Afghan women were decided in 2025 without a personal interview.
[1] Article 19(1)(e) Asylum Act.
[2] This has also been confirmed by JRS to the 2025 AIDA Report.
[3] For further information regarding this practice, please see previous AIDA reports available here.
[4] Article 123 Immigration Act. Note that this practice was confirmed in the Statistical Report of Asylum (2020): Migration Observatory, Entrada, Acolhimento e Integração de Requerentes e Beneficiários de Protecção Internacional em Portugal – Relatório Estatístico do Asilo 2020, May 2020, available in Portuguese here, 62.
[5] Information provided by AIMA on 25 June 2024.
[6] Público, Governo não mexe no estatuto de protecção dos 1500 sírios que estão em Portugal, 12 December 2024, available here.