Renewing your residence permit in Portugal: AIMA after you arrive

For most non-EU residents, the cycle looks like this: a 2-year first card, renewed for 3 years at a time, with a renewal window that opens 90 days before each expiry date. After 5 years holding a temporary permit you can switch to permanent residence, whose card is renewed every 5 years.4 sources

Golden visa (ARI) holders renew every 2 years and EU Blue Card holders follow the 2-then-3-year pattern. The renewal conditions are the same in every case: you still have means of subsistence and accommodation, your tax and social security affairs are in order, and you have no prison sentence of more than a year.2 sources

You can apply between 90 and 30 days before your card expires. The 30-day deadline comes from the law itself, and missing it is an offence carrying a fine of €75 to €300, although we found no reports of AIMA fining people who renew late through the portal.3 sources

In practice AIMA opens expiry months on the portal in batches, roughly two months at a time: in August 2026 it opened renewals for cards expiring in November and December. If the portal will not yet accept you inside the legal window, keep checking and keep a screenshot as proof that you tried.2 sources

If you miss the expiry date, you are not instantly illegal: your right of residence lasts six months after expiry, and the portal accepts permits that lapsed less than six months ago. After that, you need a new application at an AIMA counter; people who never left Portugal can use a special route for lapsed permits.4 sources

Ordinary renewals are online, on AIMA's Renewals Portal (portal-renovacoes.aima.gov.pt), which opened in July 2025. You register, receive a password by email, fill in the form, upload documents and receive a payment reference (DUC); AIMA's launch notice said the payment must be made within 24 hours. Analysis starts once you pay. You only go in person if AIMA schedules biometrics.2 sources

Cards that expired between 22 February 2020 and 30 June 2025 have their own route on services.aima.gov.pt, which excludes CPLP, golden visa and EU cards. Golden visa renewals moved exclusively to the portal on 16 February 2026.2 sources

The portal is for renewals only; changes to your name, address or tax number go through AIMA's contact form. Renewals for children under 18 need a signed Termo de Responsabilidade, and AIMA accepts documents signed digitally with a Cartão de Cidadão or Chave Móvel Digital.3 sources

For a temporary renewal you need your passport details, proof that you still have means of subsistence, proof of accommodation, proof that your tax and social security affairs are in order and, for work permits, evidence that the job or business continues. AIMA checks your Portuguese criminal record itself; a foreign criminal record is not on the renewal list.2 sources

AIMA says a NISS, your social security number, is needed to complete a renewal. If you do not have one yet, you can request NIF, NISS and SNS numbers together once you have a permit or a pending application.2 sources

Proof of accommodation tightened in November 2025. You always need AIMA's sworn address statement plus one of: a land-registry access code if you own the home, a lease in your name with last month's rent receipt, or a loan-for-use (comodato) contract with the registry certificate. If you live in someone else's home and are not on the lease, add a sworn statement with the property's registry number and the owner's tax number, plus a tax-domicile certificate under 30 days old. Junta de Freguesia attestations are no longer accepted.1 source

AIMA raised its fees on 1 March 2026 and now gives a 25% discount for applications filed online. A temporary renewal costs €247.30 in person or €185.60 online (a €133.00 reception and analysis fee plus €114.30 for the permit, before the discount). Paying these fees covers card printing.2 sources

Nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe) are exempt from the permit fee itself but still pay reception and analysis. Golden visa renewals are far dearer, at €3,789.90 online.1 source

Once you have filed and paid, your receipt has the same effect as the card for 60 days, renewable, while the renewal is pending. Some receipts issued after October 2025 state 180 days, so check the date printed on yours. Portal receipts carry a QR code.3 sources

Since January 2026, approved applicants still waiting for the plastic card can download a 'comprovativo de deferimento' from their personal area. AIMA says people with pending renewals are not irregular, but in practice some banks, ride-hailing platforms, driving schools and other agencies have refused these documents.3 sources

Cards are posted by CTT to the address AIMA has on file. If delivery fails, collect it from the CTT shop before the deadline on the notice; after that it goes back to AIMA and you wait for an email. AIMA reported in April 2026 that 87% of approved portal renewals had received their card.3 sources

This is the riskiest part of the wait. AIMA's long-standing position is that a renewal receipt is not a travel document and cannot be used to move around other Schengen countries, and Portugal's six-month rule applies inside Portugal only.2 sources

We found no 2026 statement from AIMA or the border police on whether an expired card plus receipt will get you back into Portugal from outside Schengen. Residence-card holders are exempt from the EU's Entry/Exit System, but once a card has expired a short stay may be recorded.3 sources

Until recently, if AIMA failed to decide a renewal within 60 days for reasons that were not your fault, the law treated it as approved. Lei 62/2026, in force from 11 September 2026, repealed that rule. Under the general administrative code, silence now counts as approval only where a law expressly says so, so AIMA's delay is a failure to decide that you can challenge, not an approval.5 sources

The law has no transitional rule for renewals already pending. Our reading, which you should confirm with a lawyer, is that a tacit approval that had already formed before 11 September 2026 still stands, while deadlines ending on or after that date produce none. Tacit approval never applied to first permits.2 sources

You must tell AIMA about a new address or a change of marital status within 60 days; failing to do so is an offence with a fine of €45 to €90. Use AIMA's contact form, choosing Portal das Renovações and 'Comunicar/retificar Morada'; AIMA says it updates the record within two working days.3 sources

Do it before a new card is posted, because cards go to the address on file. A new address does not require a new card, but a change in the details printed on the card (for example your name) does, and costs €40.00 online.3 sources

AIMA's contact centre is on +351 217 115 000 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm), and its email is geral@aima.gov.pt; portal problems go through the contact form under 'Portal de Renovações, comunicar problema'. Paper residence-card numbers often fail on the portal: drop the leading zero, and if it still fails, email AIMA with the subject line it prescribes.3 sources

Complaints cost nothing but cannot force a decision. AIMA now uses the electronic complaints book for public services, and you can escalate to the Provedor de Justiça (the ombudsman) once you have complained to AIMA itself, as long as the matter is not in court. The ombudsman's 2025 report highlighted slow residence decisions, card errors and AIMA certificates refused by other bodies.3 sources

To force a decision you need a court. The usual route is an ordinary administrative action to compel AIMA to decide, which must be filed within a year of the missed deadline. Since October 2025 the fast-track procedure (intimação) is only available where AIMA's delay seriously and directly harms a personal right that interim measures cannot protect, and judges may weigh AIMA's workload. Court fees average about €600.5 sources

After holding a temporary permit for five years you can apply for permanent residence. You need means of subsistence, accommodation, tax and social security compliance, basic Portuguese, and no prison sentences totalling over a year in the past five years. The first permanent permit costs €363.20 online or €484.10 in person.3 sources

Basic Portuguese can be shown with a Portuguese school certificate, a certificate from a school in a Portuguese-speaking country, an IEFP basic Portuguese course, a CAPLE exam such as CIPLE, or an A2 certificate from a free Português Língua de Acolhimento course. Applications are by appointment at an AIMA shop.2 sources

The permit itself never expires; the card is renewed every five years, in the same 90-to-30-day window, for €146.10 online. If you renew a permanent card late, you must prove you stayed in Portugal or explain your absences.3 sources

EU long-term resident status is an alternative after five years of legal, uninterrupted residence, with basic Portuguese, stable resources and health insurance; it adds mobility rights elsewhere in the EU and costs €247.30 online.2 sources

Every status has an absence limit, and breaking it without good reason can cost you the permit. Absences for work, business, cultural or social activities abroad are protected, and you can ask AIMA in advance to approve a longer absence.1 source

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens register with their Câmara Municipal and receive a registration certificate (CRUE) valid for 5 years. After 5 years of continuous legal residence they acquire a permanent right of residence, with no resources, insurance or language conditions.2 sources

Since 1 July 2026, the permanent residence certificate (and the permanent card for non-EU family members) is requested on AIMA's Renewals Portal, before the CRUE expires. Since 15 September 2026 you no longer need a NIF or NISS for it. The fee is €15 online or €18 in person for adults; AIMA says the maximum processing time is three months.4 sources

British nationals and their families who were living in Portugal by 31 December 2020 should hold a Withdrawal Agreement residence card. The temporary card costs €15 and lasts 5 years; the permanent card costs €18 and lasts 10 years.2 sources

To move from temporary to permanent, book through AIMA's contact form, choosing BREXIT and the transition to permanent residence. AIMA's form asks for five years of continuous residence and evidence such as Portuguese bank statements, tax returns and a social security record; it describes the five years as counted from 1 January 2021, and how it treats earlier years is unclear.2 sources

If you were given an ordinary residence permit instead of a Withdrawal Agreement card, there is no published AIMA procedure to correct it: contact the Brexit line (+351 214 236 709) or brexit@aima.gov.pt, and the British Embassy.2 sources

Portugal had 1,585,854 foreign residents at the end of 2025. AIMA issued 527,375 cards that year, 189,331 of them renewals, and handled about 100,000 renewals on the portal in its first ten months. Staffing rose 17% between July 2024 and July 2026, and shop services were up more than 60% in the first half of 2026.3 sources