Key figures — as of 2026-08-01: Several thousand family reunification appointments are being emailed out over roughly a two-week window, with dates set for "until the end of the year," according to an AIMA source cited by DN Brasil — separately, around 9,000 cases in the regime de transição cohort are being called forward — the legal deadline for a reunification decision is 9 months, extendable once for a similar period in exceptional cases — some families paid the reunification fee in January 2026 and are only now receiving scheduling contact, roughly six months later.
Emails finally moving after months of silence
For a lot of families, the wait has been the hardest part. Immigrants who applied for family reunification are due to receive an email with their appointment date, according to thousands of requests made through the agency's portal. AIMA itself acknowledged the delay to DN Brasil, with a source telling the outlet the appointment will be for a date "until the end of the year." Several thousand of these appointment notices are being sent by email over the following two weeks, with the agency already working through the process. Even the mechanics of the rollout say something about the scale of the backlog: the messages tend to be sent overnight, so as not to overload the system during the day.
What makes this newsworthy isn't just the volume — it's how long some of these families have already been waiting for a simple response. There are cases of families who paid the fee in January and still haven't been called, even though the portal promises contact within 15 days, a deadline that is constantly exceeded. Six months of silence after paying a government fee is exactly the kind of gap that erodes trust in an agency already fighting a credibility problem.
A second, older queue is moving too
Running alongside this is a separate cohort: applicants registered under the regime de transição, a legacy category tied to Portugal's pre-reform immigration rules. Immigrants who applied for family reunification under the transition regime are being called by AIMA, and are receiving an email with the Documento Único de Cobrança (DUC) for the fee; once payment is confirmed, the in-person interview is scheduled — an AIMA source put the number at around nine thousand cases, though the final figure may end up lower since confirmation depends on the fee being settled. Scheduling will happen over the coming months, preferably at a location near the immigrant's residence, though some interviews may be booked further out given the sheer volume of family reunification cases already in progress.
Both queues sit on top of a legal backdrop that's already stricter than it was in 2025. Under the reformed Foreigners' Law, AIMA must organise the scheduling and assessment method for family reunification requests, with a decision deadline of up to nine months, extendable once for a similar period in exceptional cases. New applicants also face tighter entry conditions than the transition-regime group: the new rules, sanctioned by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, require at least 15 months of legal residency in Portugal to request family reunification, and spouses must prove they lived together in the country of origin for at least 18 months beforehand.
GrowIN's read on the numbers
Here's the part worth flagging for anyone tracking AIMA's promises against reality: a family that paid its fee in January and only gets a scheduling email now, in late July, has already burned through roughly six of the nine months the law gives AIMA to decide the case — before the interview has even happened. If the appointment itself lands anywhere near the "end of the year" window AIMA is describing, some families could be pushing right up against, or past, the statutory nine-month ceiling before a decision is even reached. That's not a technical footnote; it's the difference between a child starting the school year with a parent in Portugal or not.
GrowIN Portugal Editorial: "A fee paid in January followed by silence until July isn't a processing delay anymore — it's the system testing how much waiting a family will tolerate."
This slow unclogging isn't happening in isolation. A separate court-side effort — a special task force of 28 judges cleared roughly a fifth of the pile of lawsuits foreign residents have filed against AIMA, ruling on 22,436 cases over three months against a backlog of 124,000 — suggests the agency is under real pressure to show movement across every category, not just reunification.
What to watch next
If you're in either queue, check your registered email regularly, including spam, since AIMA is sending these in bulk overnight batches. Don't assume no news is bad news, but don't wait indefinitely either — after 15 working days past AIMA's own contact promise, or once you're past the nine-month legal deadline, it may be worth taking formal steps to compel a decision. For the fuller picture on reunification requirements, timelines and fees, see our visas hub, and get in touch via services if you need help pushing a stalled case forward.
The emails are moving now — but for families who've been checking their inbox since January, "by the end of the year" is a promise they'll believe when the appointment actually lands.