The Portuguese government intends to increase the budget of the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) by approximately 50% in 2027—from 97 million euros to 146 million euros—and make processing the backlog of applications for investment-based residence permits a top priority. A significant portion of the agency’s expenses will be funded by administrative fees paid by foreign citizens, particularly participants in the “golden visa” program.
These plans were presented by Portugal’s Minister of the Presidency, António Leite Amaro, during parliamentary hearings on the draft state budget for 2027.
According to the minister, the government expects to finance the immigration system primarily through AIMA’s own revenues. Specifically, revenues from the issuance and renewal of residence permits, administrative procedures, and other immigration services are expected to cover more than 100 million euros in expenses.
At the same time, special attention in 2027 is planned to be given to applications for investment residence permits, known as the Golden Visa.
Previously, the agency had focused significant resources on processing applications from foreigners awaiting legalization of their stay and on reviewing family reunification cases. Now, the government intends to expand its administrative capacity to process applications from investors.
Delays in issuing investment residence permits remain one of the most serious problems facing the Portuguese immigration system.
During parliamentary debates in October 2026, the minister reported a large backlog of cases under the investment residency program.
According to published reports of his remarks, there were 45,000–46,000 applications that had been pending administrative processing for a long time. By early October, approximately 6,000 cases had been processed, and appointments for biometric data collection had been scheduled for roughly 30,000 applicants.
However, the published reports do not allow for a definitive determination of how many applications remained pending as of early November. The scheduling of a date for biometric data submission also does not guarantee the issuance of a residence permit.
The issue concerns both initial permits and the renewal of documents for previously registered investors.
The 2027 budget allocates over 4 million euros for AIMA’s digital transformation and approximately 4.2 million euros for modernizing the infrastructure for serving applicants. An additional 1.4 million euros is earmarked for language training, professional adaptation, and support for integration programs.
The investment program for obtaining a residence permit in Portugal has been in effect since October 2012. It allows citizens of non-EU countries to obtain a residence permit provided they meet the established investment requirements. In recent years, the program has undergone several changes. In particular, as of October 2023, the purchase of residential or commercial real estate is no longer a standalone basis for new applications for an investment-based residence permit.
Currently, the main options for participation include investments of at least 500,000 euros in eligible investment funds that are not real estate-focused, funding for scientific research of at least 500,000 euros, support for the arts and cultural heritage of at least 250,000 euros, as well as certain forms of investment in businesses and job creation.
Despite prolonged administrative delays, the investment residency program remains in effect.
According to the AIMA report for 2025, published on September 22, 2026, 2,685 investment residence permits were issued over the past year.
By comparison, the total number of residence permits issued to foreigners for the first time in 2025 reached 337,880. Another 189,331 permits were renewed.
However, a significant portion of the permits issued pertained to previously submitted applications that had been pending for a long time. Therefore, these figures cannot be directly interpreted as the number of foreigners who arrived in Portugal for the first time during the year.
According to the latest official data published by AIMA, as of December 31, 2025, there were 1,585,854 foreign residents in Portugal. The corresponding report, *Relatório de Migrações e Asilo 2025*, was released on September 22, 2026.
This represents approximately 15% of the country’s population, depending on the statistical estimate of the total population used.
The largest foreign community consists of Brazilian citizens—493,622 people, or 31.1% of all foreign residents.
In second place are Angolan citizens—99,050 people—and in third place are Indian citizens, with 91,405 residents.
Ukrainians rank fourth among Portugal’s largest foreign national groups. As of the end of 2025, there were 84,889 Ukrainian citizens in the country, accounting for approximately 5.4% of the foreign population.
Next are citizens of Cape Verde—71,005 people—followed by Nepal—about 56,000—Bangladesh—55,579—and Guinea-Bissau—51,935.
Other large foreign communities include citizens of the United Kingdom—47,726 people, Italy—42,418, Pakistan—42,042, and São Tomé and Príncipe—41,800.
Of particular significance is the temporary protection program for Ukrainians who were forced to leave the country following the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
According to AIMA data, Portugal granted temporary protection to 66,740 displaced persons from Ukraine between 2022 and 2025. In 2025, 5,802 people received such permits.
It is important to note that these figures reflect a specific migration status and the period during which protection was granted. They cannot be mechanically added to the total number of Ukrainian residents, as the statistical categories may overlap.
Portugal remains one of the major hubs for international migration in Southern Europe, and plans to increase funding for AIMA reflect the need to modernize the administrative system that serves more than 1.5 million foreign nationals.
