In a statement, the two bodies have opened an application for “the provision of services for the investigation of pending residence permit granting and renewal of residence permits”, which “are being processed by the Mission Structure of AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum)”.

These services, provided remotely, will be provided by lawyers, trainee lawyers or solicitors, who “will be part of grants and teams to be formed according to the type of cases” assigned.

In the statement, the two associations highlight “the honour and privilege of being able to contribute to the resolution of such a serious problem, which currently affects thousands of people in our country, defending the rights, freedoms and guarantees” of citizens and companies.

In the regulations, AIMA safeguards the risk of incompatibilities raised by some unions, imposing strict rules on candidates.

Service providers are “prevented from having any interests or connections with the cases being processed or with the respective applicants” directly or indirectly, through law firms and colleagues with whom they share an office or with whom “they may have personal, family or professional relationships”.

In addition, service providers “are also prohibited from providing applicants with any service themselves, through the firm to which they belong, through colleagues in the office or others with whom they may have personal, family or professional relationships, in the 12 months following the provision of the service”.

The requirements for registration will be verified by the respective Orders and include “attendance at a prior training course, to be provided by the Mission Structure for the Recovery of Pending Cases at AIMA”.

On March 5, agreements were signed between AIMA and the two orders, but the protocol is only now being finalised.

The application period began at 6:00 pm on Monday and ends on September 30.

At the end of 2023, the Portuguese authorities estimated that there were 400,000 immigrants with pending cases. In July, the Government changed the law on foreigners, imposing new restrictions, including the end of expressions of interest, a resource that allowed a foreign citizen, with a tourist visa, to begin their regularisation process in Portugal.