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The main forms of accommodation used during admissibility, including Dublin, and accelerated procedures on the national territory are reception centres, collective accommodation and/or shared rooms. As regards the regular procedure, private accommodation is usually used (see Types of Accommodation).
There is currently no regular monitoring of the reception system in place.
AIMA did not clarify the type of reception facilities provided by each organisation with which it signed MoUs and contract services in addition to CPR. Thus, it is not clear which type of reception facilities other host entities have available, and if any are specialised and specifically assigned to asylum applicants. AIMA states that asylum applicants are mostly accommodated in reception centres, collective accommodation and/or rooms in shared appartements, managed by these entities.
According to AIMA, applicants are informed of their rights and responsibilities within the reception system prior to integration, notably during AIMA’s social assessment, and upon entry into the reception centre. In these facilities, AIMA states that, in addition to housing, the support provided by host entities includes food, social support, access to public services for obtaining tax, social security and health registration numbers, legal support, Portuguese language lessons, psychological support, and vocational education and training. Notably, AIMA did not specify the type of financial allowances that may be provided by host entities. Also, according to AIMA, the support provided is equivalent regardless of the type of facility used as it is guaranteed by AIMA through the MoUs and standard contracts defining the scope, quality and nature of services to be provided.
AIMA has not provided information on how these rights, which are provided for by law, are guaranteed to applicants in practice, particularly when applicants are hosted in the youth hostel network (see Forms and levels of material reception conditions).
ISS is among the competent authorities for licensing, monitoring and providing technical support to the operation of reception centres for asylum applicants.[1] ISS has laid down specific rules for temporary reception centres for children at risk (such as CACR).[2] Furthermore, the law provides for specific standards regarding housing in kind for asylum applicants,[3] and children at risk (such as unaccompanied children).[4] The specific material reception standards relevant to CAR and CACR are foreseen in the underlying bilateral MOUs (see Types of Accommodation) and in the internal regulations of each facility.
CAR 1 and CAR 2 are composed of shared rooms with dedicated bathrooms/toilets and are equipped to accommodate asylum applicants with mobility constraints, e.g., it includes a lift and adapted bathrooms/toilets. Single men and women are accommodated in separate areas. The residents are expected to cook their own meals in a communal kitchen and have access to common fridges and cupboards. The centres also have a laundry service, and a playground. CAR 1 also has a day-care/kindergarten for resident and local community children, as well as a library connected to the municipal library system and a theatre/event space that can be rented out.
CPR provides psychosocial and legal assistance, Portuguese language training, socio-cultural activities, as well as integration-related support (see Access to the Labour Market). Logistical support staff is present at CAR 24 hours a day and the overall cleaning of the centre is carried out by a private company, though the residents are expected to contribute to the cleaning of their room and that of the common kitchen. The team of the centre often liaises with other organisations to provide specific support to particularly vulnerable residents.
CPR adheres to the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) model. The current reception strategy entails that CAR 1 is a screening centre for new admissions, during which an initial assessment of social and health needs is conducted within the first 48 hours of arrival, followed by a comprehensive social, integration and psychological assessment within the first five days. Information on the host country is also provided at this stage. CAR 1 is mostly dedicated to the reception of sole applicants, single-parent households and other vulnerable applicants with specific needs. CVG, the private house managed by CPR as a complement to CAR 1, is dedicated to the reception of semi-autonomous families. CAR 2 is mostly dedicated to the reception of households and sole applicants without specific needs.
The average accommodation period with the assistance of CPR in 2025 was of 146 days (roughly 4 and a half months), falling to 100 days in the final quarter of the year.
CACR is composed of shared rooms with dedicated bathrooms/toilets and is equipped to accommodate asylum applicants with mobility constraints. The centre has a laundry service, a playground and a small library, and provides psychosocial and legal assistance, Portuguese language training and socio-cultural activities. Children accommodated at CACR are systematically enrolled in local schools or in vocational training programmes. Following a change to the operational model, meals are no longer provided by resident cooks. In 2025, the staff included a Technical Coordinator (social educator), one social worker, one psychologist, nine social educators, and one support staff member, who were assisted by legal officers and a language trainer.
CACR offers unaccompanied children appropriate housing and reception conditions regardless of the stage of the asylum procedure. Given the specific needs and contexts involved, the average stay in 2025 stood at 323 days.
According to JRS, the organisation provided psychosocial, legal, health and integration-related assistance within its reception centres.
Absconding and the associated risk of human trafficking remain relevant concerns. In 2025 CPR referred cases for evaluation in the context of trafficking in human beings. Notwithstanding, according to OTSH, in 2025, there were no formally identified and/or confirmed victims of trafficking in human beings among applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection by the competent authorities.
A study focusing on the situation of asylum-seeking unaccompanied children and ageing out in Portugal published in 2021 revealed, inter alia, that the children and young people involved reported challenges related to the cultural and religious diversity of those living in reception centres, as well as difficulties in adjusting to different alimentary practices. Some of those questioned also highlighted difficulties in transitioning to autonomous living due to financial hurdles and, when dispersed to locations outside the Lisbon area, social isolation.[5]
[1] Decree-Law No 64/2007.
[2] These rules are contained among others in technical guidelines that provide for quality standards on issues such as capacity, duration of stay, composition and technical skills of staff, hygiene and security standards, location and connectivity, access to the building, construction materials, composition and size of the building, internal regulation, personal integration plans, activities planning, reporting and evaluation etc. An earlier version from 1996 is available here. According to the information available here, the ISS has also adopted quality standards for other temporary reception centres (such as CAR) contained in technical guidelines dated 29 November 1996 (unpublished).
[3] Article 59 Asylum Act: protection of family life, including the unity of children and parents/legal representatives; right to contact relatives and representatives of UNHCR and CPR; adoption of adequate measures by the management of the facility to prevent violence, and notably sexual and gender-based violence.
[4] Articles 52-54 Children and Youth at Risk Protection Act.
[5] Sandra Roberto, Carla Moleiro, ed. Observatório das Migrações, De menor a maior: acolhimento e autonomia de vida em menores não acompanhados, April 2021, pp.53 et seq, available here.