Portugal’s immigration enforcement has quietly split in two. Since August 2025, a new police body called UNEF — the Unidade Nacional de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras, part of the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP) — has been responsible for border checks, removals and forced returns, work that used to sit with AIMA. For foreign residents, the practical upshot is this: AIMA still processes your residence permit, but if you end up with a removal order against you, it’s now PSP officers who execute it, not caseworkers at AIMA’s offices.
Why the change happened
When SEF (the old Foreigners and Borders Service) was dissolved in October 2023, its functions were scattered across PSP, GNR, the Judiciary Police and the newly created AIMA. AIMA inherited the administrative side of removals — deciding and instructing expulsion, readmission and return cases — despite having no police powers to actually enforce them. The government argued this arrangement wasn’t working: AIMA became responsible for returns, a system that, according to the government, doesn’t work and doesn’t allow expulsion orders to be enforced, largely because the agency lacks police authority.
The fix, enacted through Law No. 55-C/2025 of 22 July 2025, was to build a dedicated police unit inside the PSP. The Portuguese government formally established the Unidade Nacional de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (UNEF) within the Public Security Police, and it took over key responsibilities from the former SEF — plus the removal functions AIMA had held since 2023.
What UNEF actually does
UNEF went live with roughly 1,200 officers, with the PSP aiming to scale up over time. The unit, known as the “mini SEF,” entered into force with 1,200 police officers qualified for airport border control, and the goal is for UNEF to eventually operate with around 2,000 people, including officers, specialised technicians, service providers and civil-society volunteers.
Its remit is broad. Per the law and legal analysis, UNEF is tasked with monitoring airport border crossings and visa issuance at border posts, overseeing foreign nationals within PSP jurisdiction, processing coercive removal, expulsion, readmission and voluntary return procedures, and managing detention or temporary installation centres. It also opens administrative offence cases tied to entry, stay and departure rules — meaning that overstays and irregular status issues that used to be an AIMA administrative matter can now trigger a direct PSP process.
The backlog is enormous
The transfer wasn’t clean. UNEF inherited a mountain of unresolved AIMA files. The PSP was expected to receive around 100,000 pending cases on the return of illegal immigrants, some of them 50 years old. The unit’s own leadership described the volume in blunt terms: “We are receiving 25 cubic metres of return and removal case files daily… we measure it this way because that’s how much the vans carrying them from AIMA’s headquarters in Lisbon transport, all on paper,” reported João Ribeiro. In Lisbon alone, there were an estimated 20,000 active cases, some pending a decision since 2019.
Voluntary returns, not just forced ones
Despite its enforcement mandate, UNEF has so far leaned toward voluntary departures over forced ones. More than a thousand irregular immigrants in Portugal, most of them Brazilian, returned to their home countries voluntarily since UNEF’s creation in August 2025, with 1,086 people leaving through the voluntary return programme by May 2026. Since gaining responsibility for foreigners’ returns through UNEF, the PSP has prioritised voluntary departure over forced removal, letting irregular immigrants leave the country in an assisted, humanitarian way. Forced removals are still happening, too — PSP figures cited by the unit’s director put the number above 380 in a single year.
Parliament is currently debating a government bill — dubbed the “lei do retorno” — designed to speed up removal procedures further, which could expand UNEF’s caseload and powers once passed.
What this means for you
If you’re a foreign resident with a valid, in-process, or renewing permit, day-to-day dealings with AIMA don’t change — applications, renewals and appointments still run through AIMA and the Portal das Renovações. Where UNEF enters the picture is if your status lapses, an expulsion or readmission order is issued, or you’re stopped for a residency check within PSP jurisdiction. Given the backlog described by UNEF’s own leadership, expect slow, inconsistent handling of older cases for some time, alongside faster action on new ones as digital case-management tools (planned for 2026) come online.
Anyone facing a removal notice, or unsure which authority now handles their case, should get advice promptly rather than assume AIMA is still the relevant body — see our visas hub for how residence and removal processes currently interact, and our services page if you need help navigating a specific case.
The enforcement landscape here is still settling, and further rule changes tied to the pending return law are likely before the year is out.
This article was produced with AI assistance and editorial oversight in line with our editorial policy. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.