AIMA process status online: how to check it and what it means

Something new surfaced in the expat groups this month, and the reaction was equal parts relief and confusion. One post put it almost word for word: "this new update on the AIMA site to follow your process — does it work for any kind of process?" People had found the status tracker, opened it, and were not sure what they were looking at.

The short answer: it is real, it is free, and for most people it replaces the ritual of emailing AIMA and waiting for silence. But it does not cover everything, and one of its screens is currently causing more panic than anything else on the portal.

Where the tracker actually lives

It is at services.aima.gov.pt. You log in, and inside your personal area there is a section called "As minhas ações" — my actions. That is the tracker. It is not on the main aima.gov.pt information site, which is precisely where most people go looking, fail to find it, and conclude it does not exist.

The "Por Pagar" panic — and the official answer

This is the most repeated post in the groups right now, and it always reads the same way: "I paid the fee for the family reunification appointment weeks ago and the status still says it has not been paid." The assumption is always that the payment failed, that the process is dead, and that months have been lost.

AIMA's own FAQ answers this directly: if you have paid and the status still shows Por Pagar, the payment went through. The status text simply has not caught up. You do not need to pay again, and you do not need to restart anything — you wait to be contacted.

What the statuses actually mean

• Em análise — your file is with the service and being reviewed. Nothing is required from you unless the portal also lists missing documents.
• Deferido — approved. This is the one you want; the card comes after it, not with it.
• Concluído — the process is closed on AIMA's side.
• If the portal flags documents to attach, treat that as the only genuinely urgent screen. That is the one thing on the tracker that is waiting on you rather than on them.

What it does not do

Being honest about the limits matters more than selling the feature, so: the tracker does not make anything move faster. It tells you where you are in a queue; it does not shorten the queue. If your process type is not among those covered, its absence is not a fault in your file — it simply is not wired into the portal yet.

And the status text can be ahead of reality. A recurring complaint in the groups: "I checked my renewal and it says it was delivered at least three months ago, but nothing ever arrived." A card marked as issued or delivered has been produced and sent on AIMA's side; whether it reached your letterbox is a separate question, and one you have to chase with evidence — through the contact form at contactenos.aima.gov.pt, keeping a copy of everything you send.

Screenshot everything, every time

Lawyers who deal with AIMA cases repeat the same advice, and it is worth taking seriously: save every payment receipt and every status screen you see. Portals get rebuilt, statuses get overwritten, and a screen that said one thing in March cannot be reconstructed in September. If your case ever needs escalating — a formal complaint, or an action to force a decision after an unreasonable delay — the only proof that exists is the proof you kept.

If you are still in the earlier stages, the sequence and the deadlines are laid out in your first 120 days with AIMA and in AIMA appointments, renewals and your rights. If the process you are tracking is a family one, family reunification covers what the file needs to contain in the first place.

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