A court action has highlighted a 48-hour deadline breach by the Lisbon Administrative Court in an urgent judicial process, potentially infringing on the constitutional right of an immigrant who sought a timely decision to be present for the birth of her granddaughter, according to her lawyer.
In addition, the action filed in the Lisbon Administrative Circle Court targets AIMA for “inertia” and failing to meet “legal deadlines,” which allegedly breached their duties of efficiency and promptness, causing her “prejudices.”
Elizenilde Oliveira arrived in Portugal in June 2023 and submitted her expression of interest on November 13 of the same year. However, she has not yet obtained a residence permit. Oliveira reported that she only managed to secure an appointment with AIMA with the help of a paid lawyer.
Despite this, she remains without legal residency status, even though she is employed under contract in the kitchen of a restaurant in Fafe, where she has lived since leaving Brazil due to security concerns.
Among the various issues the situation has caused her, Oliveira emphasized her “greatest sorrow”—not being able to fulfill her dream of meeting her first granddaughter at birth: “She is already three months old, and I still haven’t met her. I always dreamed of having a granddaughter, a girl,” she shared.
This delay occurred because four months elapsed before she received notice of the outcome of an action filed in November 2024 by her lawyer at the Administrative Court. This action sought an order requiring AIMA to decide on her request within ten days, per jurisprudence, allowing her to spend Christmas with her family and be present at her granddaughter’s birth.
Filed this month, the action by Elizenilde Oliveira requests that the State, represented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and AIMA be tried and ordered to compensate her for economic damages, specifically the equivalent of “a minimum wage per month from the date of her expression of interest until the issuance of her residence permit and subsequent migration regularization,” citing the lack of better working conditions during the State’s omission.
The immigrant is also seeking compensation for moral damages during the same period amounting to 50,000 euros or an amount “to be determined” by the court, and calls for the defendants to pay 5,000 euros “with corrections and legal interest” for defense fees.
Contacted by Lusa, an official source from the Lisbon Administrative Circle Court confirmed the entry of the case brought by the Brazilian immigrant against the Portuguese State and AIMA on the early morning of the 20th of this month. The prerequisites of the initial petition are being assessed, and the citation phase for the parties involved will follow to allow them to respond.
