“The problem is dramatic, it is a human rights problem, it is a problem of absolute cruelty and which must be resolved urgently”, highlighted Dulce Neto, during an intervention at the Advocatus Summit, organised by the newspaper ECO.

According to the newspaper, which quotes the president of the Supreme Administrative Court (STA), the number of requests for authorisation or renewal of the residence permit arriving at the Administrative Court of the Lisbon Circle has skyrocketed in recent months.

On March 31, 1,465 cases were pending, but the number now exceeds 3,200 cases and the situation is likely to worsen because, according to the Agency for Integration for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), they are about to be filed in court around 350 thousand processes.

Given the scenario, the judge advisor warns that the Lisbon Administrative Court runs the risk of “becoming absolutely congested and paralysed with this type of very urgent processes”.

The problem, worsened by the lack of human resources, must be “resolved upstream of the judiciary and through legislative measures”.