Statistics

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Portuguese Refugee Council Visit Website

Overview of statistical practice

The Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) published a yearly statistical report providing information on asylum applications: number, nationalities, place of application, gender, unaccompanied children, positive first instance decisions, relocation.[1]

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) published a yearly report on asylum.[2] Within this context, in July 2023, the OM published ‘Applicants and Beneficiaries of International Protection – Statistical Report of Asylum 2023’.[3] The OM was an autonomous unit of the High Commission for Migration (ACM).

ACM and SEF were both terminated in October 2023, and their attributions within this area were transferred to AIMA (see: Determining Authority). At the time of writing, it is unclear which will be AIMA’s practice regarding the publication of statistics and data.

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2023[4]

 Source: AIMA. 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 2023.

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 2023, 281 admissibility decisions were issued.[6]

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: rates for 2023

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: 2023

Source: AIMA. 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 2,695 asylum applications were registered in Portugal in 2023.[7]
• 435 first instance final decisions were adopted by the authorities, out of which 125 were rejections and 310 were decisions granting international protection.[8]
• Out of 310 decisions granting international protection, 290 recognised refugee status and 20 granted subsidiary protection.[9]
• 515 applicants had their asylum applications processed under an accelerated procedure.[10]
• By the end of the year, 365 asylum applications were pending.[11]

Information on appeals: 2023

According to information provided by the High Council of Administrative and Fiscal Courts (Conselho Superior dos Tribunais Administrativos e Fiscais, CSTAF), in 2023, the Administrative Circle Court (Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo, TAC) of Lisbon and the Administrative and Fiscal Courts of Almada, Beja, and Sintra were the only Courts with a specific registration string pertaining to asylum-related appeals.^[12] While the remaining first instance administrative courts did not have such a registration string, CSTAF was able to provide data on appeals based on information available on the corresponding IT system and in cooperation with each Court. Higher Courts do not collect autonomous data on asylum-related processes.

A total of 306 appeals against negative decisions were filed in national first instance courts. This represents an increase of approximately 26% compared to 2022, when 242 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. Out of the 306 appeals against negative asylum decisions, 287 were registered in this Court (i.e., 94% of all appeals). In 2023, appeals were further lodged in TAF Almada, TAF Beja, TAF Leiria, TAF Porto, TAF Sintra, and TAF Viseu.

Those appeals concerned applicants of 42 nationalities. The most represented nationalities among appellants included Gambia (75), Guinea Bissau (37), Pakistan (25), Senegal (22), and Morocco (19). According to CSTAF, out of the total of 306 appeals, 267 concerned male applicants and 39 concerned female applicants.

In 2023, first instance courts issued a total of 255 asylum-related appeal decisions, of which 153 concerned Dublin cases (60%). The data available does not include a breakdown of the remaining procedures concerned.

Out of the total of 255 decisions, 236 were issued by TAC Lisbon. Out of the total of 255 asylum-related appeal decisions (first instance courts), 23 were in favour of the applicant (9 granting subsidiary protection, 1 determining that the procedure should be resumed/reanalysed by the administrative authority, 10 determining that Dublin procedures should be resumed/reanalysed by the administrative authority).^[13] There were 232 decisions ruling against the appellants.

Out of the total of 236 decisions issued by TAC Lisbon, 18 were decided in favour of the appellant, and 218 against the appellant.

As such, the overall success rate of appeals^[14] at TAC Lisbon (all countries of origin and procedures included) stood at roughly 8%. The overall success rate of appeals in courts outside Lisbon stood roughly at 26%. The overall success rate of appeals at national level stood at 9%. In the case of Gambia, the most represented nationality at appeal stage, the overall success rate of appeals was around 6%. With a few exceptions, success rates for other nationalities were equally low. For the other most represented countries of origin at appeals stage, the success rates were as follows: Guinea Bissau (5%); Pakistan (0%); Senegal (5%); Morocco (11%).

The available information does not allow for clear-cut statistics on decision rates per type of procedure. Nevertheless, according to information available to CPR, the main type of asylum procedures used in 2023 to reject asylum applications filled by nationals of the 5 most represented nationalities at appeal stage at first instance consisted of Dublin procedures for applicants from Gambia, Pakistan, and Senegal, and accelerated procedures for applicants from Guinea-Bissau, and Morocco.

According to information provided by CSTAF, a total of 50 appeals were filed in second instance courts (TCA South and TCA North) in 2023. A total of 28 such appeals were decided during the year.

[1] SEF, Yearly Statistical Reports, available at: https://bit.ly/3vHDYbz. These reports were usually published in June (with information on the previous year).

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

[3] 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, at the time of writing it was not possible to access them online, neither in the website of ACM, which was still online, nor in the website of AIMA.

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

[5] The total number of asylum applications indicated by AIMA is 2,992. According to the information provided by the Agency, this includes 277 resettled refuges. As resettled refugees are not usually counted as applicants for international protection, the number of applicants minus the number of resettled refugees (2,715) is also included in the table for easier comparability.

[6] 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 SEF’s/AIMA’s communications through the year and information provided by asylum-seekers, at least 865 such decisions were issued to asylum-seekers whom applied for asylum in 2023 (this figure may include decisions already issued in 2024). 

[7] Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex – annual aggregated data, available at: https://tinyurl.com/mpehcsf2.

[8] Eurostat, First instance decisions on asylum applications by type of decision – annual aggregated data, available at: https://tinyurl.com/3k6cyr9t.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Eurostat, Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure, by age, sex and citizenship – annual aggregated data, available at: https://tinyurl.com/5n94dw8p.

[11] Eurostat, Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex – monthly data, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ykpb3ykn.

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

[13] According to CPR’s observation of national jurisprudence, instances where national courts decide to grant protection directly are traditionally extremely rare. CPR has not been able to identify the judicial decisions granting subsidiary protection to analyse its content. While CPR receives a significant number of judicial decisions either through the asylum-seekers it supports or through their lawyers, the organisation does not process statistical data regarding judicial procedures.

[14] 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.