The number of foreign citizens residing in Portugal quadrupled in seven years, with around 1.5 million registered at the end of 2024, according to data from the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA).
According to the 2024 Migration and Asylum Report, released this Thursday (October 16), at the end of December 2024, 1,543,697 foreign citizens were registered residing in the national territory, below estimates made in April.
Compared to the end of 2017, when 421,802 foreign citizens resided in Portugal, the number almost quadrupled.
The overwhelming majority (71%) have a residence permit, with 286,302 citizens already accounted for by the Mission Structure for the Recovery of Pending Processes at AIMA, in relation to pending expressions of interest processes and who were waiting to obtain a residence permit.
The document also mentions 61,242 beneficiaries of temporary protection, 7,517 with expired CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries) residence permits and already covered by the Mission Structure, and 125 admitted to national territory under long-term visas who expressed their intention to stay longer in national territory.
“Brazilian nationality remains the main resident foreign community with a representation of 31.4% of the total”, adds the report.
Last year, Indian nationality became the second with the highest representation (7.4%), followed by Angolan (6.9%) and Ukrainian (5.9%), and, in terms of regional groups, the greatest growth occurred among citizens of CPLP countries, the Indian subcontinent and Europe.
The immigrant population in Portugal is mainly made up of adults of working age, particularly those aged between 18 and 44 (77%), and are mostly men (56.1%).
“The geographic distribution of the foreign population focuses mainly on the coast, with emphasis on the districts of Lisbon, Faro, Setúbal and Porto with a population representation of 1,100,670 (71.3%)”, he adds.
By the end of the year, 218,332 residence permits had been granted, 34% less than in 2023, an atypical year due to the automatic conversion of expressions of interest into CPLP residence permits.
The report highlights that the data essentially reflects AIMA’s response capacity, and it is expected that, as a result of the work carried out by the Mission Structure, 2025 will record “significant numbers” that correspond to inflows prior to June 2, 2024, resulting from the expression of interest regime.
Residence permits for professional activities and for CPLP citizens represent 56.3% of new residence permits granted, with 2,081 residence permits for investment registered, the majority of which were issued to citizens from the United States, China and Russia.
2,677 requests for international protection were submitted and applicants from the African continent represented 58.2%, in particular Senegal, Gambia and Angola, with 1,244 provisional residence permits or refugee and subsidiary protection status granted.
The report also states that, under international humanitarian response commitments, Portugal welcomed 46 citizens requesting international protection, from Somalia, Guinea Conakry, Libya, Ethiopia and six other countries, in addition to 152 Afghan citizens, within the scope of Humanitarian Admission Portugal, who were evacuated following the August 2021 coup d’état.
The number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum increased by 151.9% compared to the previous year, to 204, more than half from The Gambia.
In the final report, AIMA revises upwards the number of foreign citizens in Portugal in 2023 which, as a result of the work carried out by the Mission Structure, increases from 1,044,606 to 1,304,833.