According to a statement released by the Superior Council, a reinforcement of resources was decided on July 9 in view of the need to “take urgent measures to reinforce the response capacity of the court, during the judicial vacation period, and ensure, during this period, the effectiveness of judicial protection of the fundamental rights of citizens who resort to it”.

After consulting judges from all administrative and tax courts, they, “overwhelmingly”, expressed their willingness to work during judicial holidays, said the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts (CSTAF).

Thus, this body determined “that for the provision of the urgent service that must be carried out during the judicial holidays in relation to the 6th type processes of the Lisbon Administrative Circle Court (TAC), related to applications for residence permits, in decision phase, in the period between July 16th and August 31st, 2024, judges of law and judges of law, on internship, who expressed this availability, are included, for a total of 136 judges”.

The council refers to the “abnormal volume of service” at the TAC in Lisbon due to these specific processes, which “has been reflected in a significant backlog of cases” and that it is foreseeable that the management measures already adopted in this court “will not be sufficient to ensure the normal functioning of the summer shift”, thereby justifying the reinforcement of the number of shift judges during judicial holidays.

In accordance with the same deliberation, the cases will be randomly distributed among the selected judges.

The CSTAF also expresses “a word of praise and appreciation for the judges who made themselves available, voluntarily and with a high sense of responsibility, in order to guarantee the efficiency of this jurisdiction in defending fundamental rights”.

According to a resolution by the Council of Ministers, the Government has created a mission structure to resolve the 400,000 immigration legalization processes pending at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), with the expectation that 300 workers can be recruited for that purpose.

The resolution authorises the recruitment of a maximum of 100 specialists, 150 technical assistants and 50 operational assistants for the two mission teams.