Portugal: Too many immigrant meetings ‘no-shows’ – AIMA president

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Portugal: Too many immigrant meetings ‘no-shows’ – AIMA president

8:42 CAT | 08 Jul 2025

File photo: Lusa

The president of Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, Pedro Portugal Gaspar, highlighted on Monday the need to attend scheduled appointments at the agency, explaining that a significant percentage of booked meetings currently go unused, even though securing an appointment is the main concern.

“In 2024, according to data from AIMA, 85% of appointments were attended,” said Pedro Portugal Gaspar during the inauguration ceremony of the Local Centre for Migrant Integration Support (CLAIM) in São Pedro do Sul, in the district of Viseu.

He pointed out that “users mainly highlight the need for easier appointment making”, and efforts to improve the situation have already increased the number of appointments per day from 1,000 to over 6,000.

According to Pedro Portugal Gaspar, no-shows create an unfair situation because “some people are still searching for an appointment while others fail to appear at their scheduled time.”

At the end of the ceremony, Pedro Portugal Gaspar told journalists that when someone fails to attend an appointment, “they occupy a slot that could benefit another person who has been waiting longer.”

He explained that municipalities make “a group of appointments, and this arrangement allows us to extend it to other areas of the country on a contractual basis, with AIMA bearing the cost”.

This will be “a matter we will discuss later with local authorities, if there is interest, a more technical matter,” he stressed, adding that the first step, the creation of CLAIM, must come before the second step.

“Today we have already taken that first step, and we will follow the path that need dictates whenever a sufficient quantity justifies it. The door remains open, and we will seize opportunities to go further,” he said.

Currently, people have registered about 170 CLAIMs. Pedro Portugal Gaspar highlighted the receptiveness that municipalities have shown, constituting “a privileged partner” of the central administration.

The deputy mayor of São Pedro do Sul, Pedro Mouro, told journalists that there are between 700 and 800 migrants in the municipality, of at least 24 nationalities.

“In the last two or three years, we have received many migrants in our municipality. We felt that, in addition to the issue of legalisation, there was a need for integration. Having a CLAIM in São Pedro do Sul is beneficial,” he explained.

Source: Lusa