According to the 2024 Report of the Administrative and Tax Courts of Lisbon and Islands, to which Lusa had access, last year 54,222 so-called 6th Type processes were filed with the Lisbon District Administrative Court, related to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), when, on December 31, 2023, there were only 575 pending.

In practice, in 2024, 7,973 procedures were concluded, with the contribution of a special team made up of six judges (initially five) and four court officers from that court, extended during the summer to 135 judges from all over the country, in conjunction with the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts.

If immigration and asylum proceedings did not exist, the Administrative and Tax Courts of Lisbon and the Islands would have ended last year with 14,118 pending proceedings, 1,929 fewer than in 2023.

“Were it not for the exponential influx of 6th Type proceedings — Summons for the defense of rights, freedoms and guarantees —, the number of judges placed in the Geographical Area of ​​Lisbon and the Islands would, in my humble opinion, be sufficient to ensure that requests are responded to within a reasonable time, with a decrease in pending cases in older proceedings having been observed”, argues, in the document, the presiding judge of the Administrative and Tax Courts of Lisbon.

In the report, Antero Pires Salvador attributes the current scenario to the end, on October 29, 2023, of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and subsequent creation of AIMA, whose sole headquarters in Lisbon makes the Lisbon District Administrative Court “the only territorially competent” court to hear requests for summons to the Agency and decide on asylum applications.

“If it weren’t for the ‘AIMA’ processes, which consume a lot of human resources, which could be used in other areas to improve the state of the respective services, the future would be brighter”, insists the magistrate.

According to the document, approved on Thursday, December 31, 2024, 91 judges (26 more than established in the legal framework) and 16 prosecutors (-9) were in office in the four courts in the geographical area of ​​Lisbon and the Islands, including the two largest in the country in administrative and fiscal jurisdiction. On the same date, there were 23 court officials absent.