Approved by AIMA, still without a card — a family reunification case makes the gap visible
Público reports the case of a Brazilian family who waited years for family reunification. Their five-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy, was finally seen by AIMA in early 2026 — and the residence card never arrived. The father says the child remains in Portugal without documentation.
Why it matters for your move
Approval is not the end of the process. The law sets 90 days for the decision, but nothing at all for producing and posting the card — so a person can be legally recognised and still blocked in practice. This is exactly the gap we wrote about in our guide to waiting for the card after approval.
This is Re-locant.com’s own brief, written to explain what the update means for people moving to or living in Portugal. For the full original report, see the source below.