What to do after a refusal

Before refusing, AIMA has to tell you what it intends to decide and why, and give you a chance to reply. The letter states the deadline, of at least ten days, counted from the day you receive it. The reply is written, has to answer the reasons in the letter, and can include new documents.

This is often the best moment to act. A complete reply can change the decision. A missed deadline usually means a refusal.

What we do

• Read the letter and your file, and identify the real reason behind the intended refusal
• Write the reply and gather the documents that answer it
• File it within the deadline and keep the proof

A refusal can be challenged in two ways, sometimes both: an administrative appeal to AIMA’s board or to the competent Government member (depending on who decided), and an action in the administrative court asking for the decision to be annulled. The administrative appeal is optional and suspends the court deadline. Each route has its own deadline, stated in the decision or set by law, running from the day you are notified. A court action against a refusal is the one we file most often.

What we do

• Tell you which route applies and the exact deadline for your case
• Prepare the appeal or the court action, with the legal arguments and the evidence
• Follow it until the decision, and tell you when something changes

A notification to leave the country voluntarily within a set period, between twenty and thirty days in most cases, which can be extended taking into account the length of your stay, children at school, and family and social ties (duty to leave the national territory, Article 138 of Law 23/2007). It has consequences for your future applications and has to be dealt with quickly: in some situations it can be contested, in others there is a way to regularise your stay.

What we do

• Read the notification and your situation, and tell you what can be done within the period
• Contest it or file for regularisation where the law allows
• Represent you before AIMA in the process that follows

An entry ban can be recorded in the Schengen Information System (SIS) and block visas and entry in every Schengen country, sometimes without you knowing. You have the right to ask whether an alert exists and to ask for its correction or deletion.

What we do

• Request access to the information recorded about you
• Ask for the deletion or correction of an alert that is wrong or has expired
• Contest the ban where the law allows

This is the part of the process where a lawyer makes the most difference. The deadlines are short and counted in days. The reply has to answer legal reasons with legal arguments and proof. You usually get one chance to reply before the decision, and one deadline to challenge it afterwards.

You can still write to us if the deadline is close, or if you are not sure whether it has passed. We tell you where your case stands and what can still be done.

• The letter or decision you received, with the envelope or the date you received it
• Your application and the documents you filed with it
• Any earlier letters from AIMA about the same process

Fill in the short form and describe your situation in your own words. If your letter has a deadline, send us a photo of it on WhatsApp straight away; we ask for the rest later.

Nádia reads it herself and replies with what to do next. If a consultation is the right next step, she proposes it: 45 minutes, at the office in Lisbon or by video call, in English or Portuguese.

Fees for the work are agreed at the consultation, before anything starts. Nothing is filed in your name until you say so.