Statistics

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Overview of statistical practice

Following the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) and the High Commission for Migration (ACM) termination in October 2023, their attributions within statistics were transferred to the new Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) (see: Determining Authority).

In September 2024, AIMA published ‘Migration and Asylum Report’ for 2023.[1] The report provides statistics on asylum applications: number and place of application, gender and age, continents of origin, nationalities, unaccompanied children, positive first instance decisions, resettlement, relocation and humanitarian admission. The report also provides statistics on temporary protection applications: number and nationalities.

In the past, SEF published a yearly statistical report providing information on asylum applications: number, nationalities, place of application, gender, unaccompanied children, positive first instance decisions, relocation.[2]

Following the adoption of Parliament Resolution no. 292/2018, recommending the publication of a yearly report on national asylum policy, the Observatory for Migration (OM), as an autonomous unit of ACM, published a yearly report on asylum.[3] Within this context, the latest available version was published in July 2023.[4]

OM was reinstated by Decree-Law in June 2024[5] as a body within AIMA’s structure whose mission is to produce, collect, process and disseminate information and knowledge on the phenomenon of migration. As of July 2025, there is no publicly available report for 2024.

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2024[6]

 Source: AIMA, information provided directly in July 2025. Calculations by the author.

The rejection figures indicated above include inadmissibility decisions as well as in-merit rejections adopted in accelerated procedures. AIMA did not provide the number of rejections adopted within the regular procedure in 2024.

As further explained in the corresponding section of the report, in the national system, an application is examined on the merits in a regular procedure if it is deemed admissible (and not processed under an accelerated procedure) or if the determining authority does not comply with the corresponding time limit. Decisions deeming an application admissible to the regular procedure are not included in the table above as they do not grant/refuse protection to the applicant concerned. According to information provided by AIMA in response to an information request, in 2024, 15 admissibility decisions were issued;[8] however in August 2025 AIMA mentioned 1,238 admissibility decisions (see footnote for further explanations regarding this gap).[9]

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: rates for 2024

Source of the percentages: Calculated by the author based on data provided by AIMA. As per the data above, the rejection rate included non in merit rejections.

Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2024[10]

Source: AIMA, information provided directly in July 2025. Percentages calculated by the author.

Note: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults.

According to Eurostat data:

• A total of 2,690 asylum applications were registered in Portugal in 2024.[12]
• 1,005 first instance final decisions were adopted by the authorities, out of which 995 were rejections and 10 were decisions granting international protection.[13]
• Out of 10 decisions granting international protection, 5 recognised refugee status and 0 granted subsidiary protection.[14]
• 1,065 applicants had their asylum applications processed under an accelerated procedure.[15]
• By the end of the year, 130 asylum applications were pending.[16]

Information on appeals: 2024

According to information provided by the High Council of Administrative and Fiscal Courts (Conselho Superior dos Tribunais Administrativos e Fiscais, CSTAF), in 2024, the Administrative Circle Court (Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo, TAC) of Lisbon and the Administrative and Fiscal Courts of Leiria and Sintra were the only Courts with a specific registration string pertaining to asylum-related appeals.[17] CSTAF did not provide data regarding other first instance administrative courts. As per previous years, Higher Courts do not collect autonomous data on asylum-related processes.

A total of 459 appeals against negative decisions were filed in national first instance courts. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to 2023, when 306 appeals were registered in total.

TAC Lisbon continued to be (by far) the first instance court adjudicating the majority of asylum-related cases in Portugal. In 2024, appeals were further lodged in TAF Leiria, and TAF Sintra.

Those appeals concerned applicants of 54 nationalities. The most represented nationalities among appellants included Guinea-Bissau (51), Angola (46), Gambia (41), Colombia (39), and Senegal (35). CSTAF did not provide a gender breakdown of applicants per appeal.

In 2024, first instance courts issued a total of 419 asylum-related appeal decisions. The data available does not make a distinction between the type of asylum procedure.

Out of the total of 419 asylum-related appeal decisions (first instance courts), 136 were in favour of the applicant.[18] There were 283 decisions ruling against the appellants.

As such, the overall success rate of appeals[19] stood at 32%, which is an increase when compared to previous years.

The available information does not allow for statistics on decision rates per type of procedure. The average duration of appeals at first instance courts in 2024 was of 102 days.

CSTAF did not provide information on the number of appeals filed in second instance courts in 2024, not its average duration.

[1] AIMA, Relatório de Migrações e Asilo – 2023, September 2024, available here.

[2] SEF, Yearly Statistical Reports, available here. These reports were usually published in June (with information on the previous year).

[3] The first of such reports was published in May 2020.

[4] Observatório das Migrações (OM), Requerentes e Beneficiários de Proteção Internacional – Relatório Estatístico do Asilo 2023, July 2023. While the reports produced by the OM were previously available online, from 2024 onwards it was not possible to access them online, neither in the website of ACM, which was still online, nor in the website of AIMA.

[5] Decree-Law no. 41-A/2024, of 28 June 2024 reformulating the Observatory for Migration, available here.

[6] Data marked with “:” is not included for data protection purposes.

[7] The total number of asylum applications indicated by AIMA is 2,634. According to the information provided by the Agency, this number does not include relocated asylum applicants (46).

[8] However, CPR is aware of a much higher number of admissibility decisions taken during the year, notably due to non-compliance by the authority with the relevant deadlines to deem an application inadmissible/reject it as manifestly unfounded in an accelerated procedure. According to data collected by CPR based on AIMA’s communications through the year and information provided by asylum applicants, at least 179 such decisions were issued to asylum applicants whom applied for asylum in 2024 (this figure may include decisions already issued in 2025).

[9] In the context of the right of reply of the authorities to the 2024 draft AIDA report (22 August 2025), AIMA stated that 1,238 admissibility decisions were issued in 2024. According to the Agency, this figure may include applications for international protection from previous years that were only admitted in 2024. This rather significant number is at odds with the communications made by the asylum authority to CPR throughout the year and with the information previously made available.

[10] The total number of asylum applications indicated by AIMA for this parameter is 2,680. According to the information provided by the Agency, this includes spontaneous asylum applicants (2,634) and relocated asylum applicants (46).

[11] In the context of the right of reply of the authorities to the 2024 draft AIDA report (22 August 2025), AIMA clarified that a total of 203 unaccompanied children (and not 169) applied for international protection in Portugal in 2024. However, the Agency did not clarify the impact of this gap on the total number of applications, and on the gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants.

[12] Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex – annual aggregated data, available here.

[13] Eurostat, First instance decisions on asylum applications by type of decision – annual aggregated data, available here.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Eurostat, Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure, by age, sex and citizenship – annual aggregated data, available here.

[16] Eurostat, Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex – monthly data, available here.

[17] Until 2021, only TAC Lisbon had such a registration string.

[18] According to CPR’s observation of national jurisprudence, instances where national courts decide to grant protection directly are traditionally extremely rare. While CPR receives a significant number of judicial decisions either through asylum applicants it supports or through their lawyers, the organisation does not process statistical data regarding judicial procedures.

[19] Rates calculated by CPR based on the data provided by CSTAF. Success rates are based on the number of relevant decisions issued during the year.