AIMA is a shame of this country

My wife and I are Ukrainians. We came to Portugal on vacation in February 2022. The war started a week later, and we ended up staying — because we loved the people, and in my opinion, that matters more than money.

We were given a document — well, not really a document, more like a PDF without any passport information.

And to this day (May 27, 2025), that PDF remains our only official document here.

I asked the SEF (back then) if we should apply for a residence permit.

They told me there was no need — that the PDF was our residence.

Later I realized that wasn’t true at all.

So we submitted a Manifestação de Interesse on May 30, 2023, and gave our biometrics on November 28, 2024.

Since then — nothing.

Meanwhile, I know of unemployed people, people who basically never worked here and just “created” an income right before the interview — and even a guy who was deported from another EU country for illegal work — all of them already got their residence cards.

I also know someone earning €5,000/month who gave biometrics on the same day as me.

Same result: total silence.

My wife and I decided to create a website where our plush sloth João asks AIMA for help.

We even ran targeted ads to reach AIMA offices — and we got an interesting comment (attached).

The average Portuguese person wouldn't know these internal details.

I’m 95% sure that was written by an AIMA employee — or at least an intern.

I've gathered so much information about this agency that I could give interviews myself.

If you're ever speaking to a politician from Iniciativa Liberal, please show him this post.

Portuguese people often say that they want migrants like us.

I’ve heard so many kind words from them, and I have many Portuguese friends.

But what AIMA is doing — that’s humiliation.

This isn’t just a complaint about how a government office works.

It feels personal now.

You can’t treat people like this. They are destroying this country.