The situation is aggravated by chronic delays at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and the Mint, which have prevented the timely delivery of new cards, even in cases already approved.

Ana Paula Costa, president of the Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, warns that without a new administrative extension order, many foreign citizens are at risk from authorities and may face serious problems with their employers, as the validity of employment contracts often depends on the conformity of the documentation.

AIMA failures

The current scenario reveals critical failures in institutional communication and in the visa issuance process, with reports of people who applied to the AIMA Mission Structure in September 2025 and who, seven months later, have still not received their physical permits.

This administrative blockage forces immigrants to rely on printed digital documents obtained through the AIMA portal to demonstrate that their applications are pending.

Issues of a lack of valid documentation

However, the absence of a valid official identification document hinders basic daily tasks, from interacting with banking services to maintaining stable employment, creating a crisis that associations consider "insufficiently" managed by the State.

Although the Government has previously implemented extensions through decrees (such as Decree-Law No. 85-B/2025), the 15 April deadline marks a breaking point for those who have not yet had their situation regularised.

Non-efficient solutions

AIMA has tried to mitigate the problem by providing CTT tracking codes for some applications, but the persistent delays at the Mint keep thousands of families in legal limbo. Faced with this scourge, immigrant communities are calling for immediate government action to guarantee the legal validity of expired documents until the administrative machinery can meet the demand and deliver definitive residence permits.