Statistics

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Portuguese Refugee Council Visit Website

Overview of statistical practice

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

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2019

Source: SEF. The above figures only include in-merit decisions at first instance (both in the regular and in accelerated procedures). As such, inadmissibility decisions (including Dublin) are not included to the rejection figures. As further explained in the corresponding section of the report, in the national system, an application is examined on the merits if it is deemed admissible (and not processed under an accelerated procedure) or if the corresponding time limit is not complied with by the determining authority. Admissibility decisions are not included in the table above as they do not examine the merits of the application. According to information provided by SEF, in 2019, 542 admissibility decisions were issued (for the top ten countries of origin: Angola (135); Ukraine (54); Venezuela (52); Nigeria (31); DRC (24); Guinea (20); Bissau (16); Cameroon (8); Guinea Senegal (7); Gambia (3)).

Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2019

Source: SEF. The number on children are part of the total number of men and women, as statistics specifically on children were not available.

Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2019

According to information provided by the High Council of Administrative and Fiscal Courts (Conselho Superior dos Tribunais Administrativos e Fiscais, CSTAF), in 2019, the Administrative Circle Court (Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo, TAC) of Lisbon continued to be the only Court with a specific registration string pertaining to asylum-related appeals. While the other first instance administrative courts do not have such a registration string, CSTAF was able to provide data on appeals based on the information available on the corresponding IT system. Higher Courts do not collect autonomous data on asylum-related processes.

In 2019, the TAC of Lisbon continued to be (by far) the first instance court with the most abundant asylum-related case law in Portugal. Out of a total of 552 appeals against negative asylum decisions, 525 were registered in front of this Court (i.e. 95% of all appeals), out of which 63 concerned Dublin decisions. This represents an increase of around 40% compared to 2018, where 372 appeals had been registered in the same Court. In 2019, appeals were further lodged in front of the TAF Porto, TAF Braga, TAF Castelo Branco, TAF Leiria, TAF Viseu, TAF Funchal, TAF Sintra and TAF Loulé. The most representative nationalities among appellants included Guinea-Bissau (86), Gambia (73), Angola (59), the Democratic Republic of Congo (39), and Guinea (35).

In 2019, the TAC of Lisbon issued a total of 446 asylum-related appeal decisions, but the statistical information shared does not include a breakdown per type of asylum procedure. Of these, 86 were in favour of the applicant (data is not available on whether these were decisions granting international protection or annulling a first instance decision and ordering the authorities to reassess the application but, according to CPR’s observation of national jurisprudence, the former are relatively rare). Additionally, there were 324 decisions ruling against the appellants and 36 rulings of dismissal of the appeal on technical grounds.[2] 79 asylum-related appeals were pending in TAC Lisbon at the end of 2019. Additionally, 29 asylum-related appeal decisions were issued by other first instance administrative courts.[3]

The overall success rate of appeals at TAC Lisbon (all countries of origin and procedures included) stood roughly at 19.3%. In the case of Guinea-Bissau, the most representative nationality at appeal stage, the success rate of appeals was around 27.8%. With few exceptions, the success rate for other nationalities was equally low. For the most representative countries of origin at appeals stage, the success rates were as follows: Gambia (36.8%); Angola (4%); Democratic Republic of Congo (12%); Guinea (13.6%). The overall success rate of appeals in courts outside Lisbon stood roughly at 31%. TAF Sintra was the Court with the highest success rate among asylum cases adjudicated (around 66.7%). The overall success rate of appeals at national level stood at 20%.

Neither the information provided by SEF nor by CSTAF includes a breakdown allowing 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 2019 per country of origin to reject asylum applications at first instance consisted of (for the most representative countries of origin at appeal stage) accelerated procedures in the case of Angola (172 out of a total of 173 rejections) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (61 out of a total 61 rejections); and Dublin procedures in the case of Guinea-Bissau (92 out of 122), Gambia (144 out of 150), and Guinea (60 out of 85).