As reported by Diário de Notícias, the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts (CSTAF) issued rulings for 22,436 cases over a three-month period.
This represents the clearance of approximately one-fifth of the total backlog, which stood at 124,000 cases when the special group began its work in April.
The pace of resolution averaged 247 rulings per day across the group, or roughly eight per judge. Significant progress was noted between the initial phase and the following months: after 5,691 rulings were handed down in April, May saw a peak of 8,705 decisions, and high productivity was maintained in June, with 8,040 cases concluded. In addition to the rulings, the team processed over 47,000 procedural actions, including requests for documentation and information-gathering steps.
This underscored the scale of an intervention designed to relieve the administrative court system of an unprecedented volume of litigation and provide a swift response to citizens’ requests.
The wave of lawsuits stems from AIMA’s inability to handle service requests and covers applications for family reunification, the issuance of residence permits, and cases arising from legislative changes, such as obtaining the CPLP permit, a category created by the previous government that lacked administrative regulations for certain situations, forcing immigrants to turn to the courts.
Although the current administration has subsequently amended the legislation to restrict recourse to the courts and eliminate the internal application process for that permit, thousands of citizens are still awaiting a court order compelling the agency to schedule an appointment.
Without such a final ruling, many foreigners possess only proof of the lawsuit, a document that police authorities do not consider sufficient to prove legal residency, thereby exposing these individuals to orders to voluntarily leave the country.
The task force is now pausing operations due to the judicial recess and will resume the second phase of its work in September, adhering to the initial six-month operational plan.
