Avoid Pay Delays and Fines by Retrieving Your Portugal Residence Card

Thousands of foreign residents woke up this week to a discreet email that could determine whether their next salary lands on time or their life in Portugal grinds to a halt. The immigration authority, AIMA, is asking anyone whose residence card bounced back from the post to come and pick it up—quickly.

Miss the window and you risk sliding into an irregular status that neither employers nor border police take lightly.

Quick glance

• Returned residence cards are piling up in AIMA offices nationwide

• Collection is possible only on the date, time and location stated in the email notice

• A valid card—or at least a comprovativo de deferimento—is essential to keep work contracts, bank accounts and travel plans intact

• New online tools let you renew expiring permits and download temporary proof of legal stay

• Six-month grace periods still apply, but ignoring them can end in fines or removal orders

Why this matters to your payslip

Portuguese labour law obliges employers to verify that non-EU staff hold a current residence permit. A card stuck in limbo can lead to suspended contracts, unpaid leave or outright dismissal, especially in sectors that undergo frequent labour inspections such as construction, hospitality and delivery platforms. Recruiters have already warned that some companies are reluctant to keep workers whose permits look expired, even if the renewal has been approved online. Carrying the old card plus the digital proof of approval is therefore crucial while you wait for the plastic.

How to confirm your card is waiting for you

AIMA is sending individual email alerts—often routed to spam—explaining that the post office returned your card. The notice lists:

Exact AIMA branch where the document is stored

Specific day or days when it can be collected

A barcode that staff will scan at the counter

Without that email (printed or on a smartphone), collection is refused. If you changed your email recently, add the new address in the “Dados Cadastrais” area of the AIMA portal to avoid silent notifications in the future.

Where & when to pick up

Portugal now has 34 AIMA shops from Viana do Castelo to Faro. Some accept walk-ins, but the card-collection desks operate on limited, pre-scheduled slots to prevent long queues. Bring:

• Passport or other photo ID

• The original appointment notice

• Proof of payment of the residence fee, if asked

If the designated branch is far from where you live—common for those who moved since applying—you can ask the call centre (808 202 653) to reroute the document to a closer office, though that can add several days.

Skip the queue: digital aids already live

Waiting for renewal? AIMA’s revamped portal lets you:

• Launch online renewals if your card expires in January or February 2026

• Generate the DUC payment slip in seconds

• Download a QR-coded comprovativo de deferimento, which functions as legal proof for banks, landlords and airport police inside the EU

These tools do not replace the physical card at border checks outside Schengen, but they have already prevented hundreds of work contracts from collapsing during processing backlogs.

Penalties for ignoring the deadline

Under the current rules, cards that expired up to 30 June 2025 remain valid until 15 April 2026. Cards expiring later enjoy a six-month grace period. After that:

• Staying in Portugal becomes an administrative offence, subject to fines starting at €75

• Police can issue a 20-day order to leave the country; refusal may lead to detention

• Employers face penalties for keeping staff in irregular status

The bigger picture: bureaucracy in transition

AIMA’s own statistics show 124,793 cases still stalled in court challenges and nearly 1M files backlogged since the pandemic. A special task force has issued 311,000 documents in 15 months, yet thousands of CPLP nationals and other migrants remain in limbo. The government’s new National Artificial Intelligence Agenda promises to cut paperwork and nudge average wages higher, but for now the low-tech step of checking your inbox—including spam—could save your legal status.

One agency insider summed it up: “Until the algorithms are ready, the safest move is still to pick up the card.”