AIMA now takes family reunification requests for relatives abroad

November 14, 2026, Portugal

Morning. It's Saturday, 14 November. Lisbon 19° · Porto 17° · Faro 20°, with rain on and off across the country all weekend. Let's get into it.

📰 THE MAIN STORY

If you live in Portugal with a residence permit and want your family to join you, there's a new way to ask. Since Wednesday, AIMA, the immigration agency, has taken new family reunification requests through its online contact form, with one option for relatives still abroad and another for those already in Portugal, reported by The Portugal News. In August, appointments were only open to relatives already in the country, according to DN.

What it means for you: this is for people who hold a valid residence permit, or are renewing one, and haven't yet applied another way.

A common mistake: applying again. Requests made earlier remain valid and shouldn't be submitted a second time.

AIMA has called family reunification a priority and aimed to interview all waiting families in person by the end of the year, reported by DN. Once a case is opened, it has up to nine months to decide, under rules in force since October 2025.

In short: if your family is waiting to join you, the contact form now covers relatives abroad as well as those already here.

⚡ IN BRIEF

DECO PROteste, the consumer association, says its basket of 63 essential foods now costs €256.73, almost €12 more than a year ago and 37% more than in January 2022, reported by The Portugal News. Sliced bread jumped 15% in a single week, to €2.66, and agulha rice 10%, to €1.60.

Fish has risen most over the year: carapau, horse mackerel, is up 33% to €5.80 a kilo, and large cod 32% to €21.95 a kilo, with bacalhau season building towards Christmas.

The Casa para Viver and Porta a Porta movements hold rallies at 3pm today at Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques in Lisbon and Praça do Marquês in Porto, with events in other towns, including in the Azores and Madeira, reported by DN. Seven in ten people in Portugal think the reasons behind the housing protests and camps are valid, according to a DN/Aximage poll published this week.

Expect busier streets and traffic changes around both squares this afternoon.

Ryanair says passengers who reach the airport less than an hour before departure risk being refused boarding and having to pay to move to a later flight, reported by The Portugal News, citing the Spanish paper AS. The fee hasn't been confirmed, so check Ryanair's terms before you travel.

Online check-in helps, but it doesn't change the bag drop deadline or the time the gate closes. AS suggests arriving about two hours before domestic flights and up to three before international ones, especially at busy times.

📍 WORTH THE TRIP

Pink walls, gilded mirrors and a canal lined with blue and white tiles: Queluz is the palace where Portugal's royal family actually lived, about 15 km from central Lisbon. It began in 1747 as a summer retreat for Prince Pedro, the future King Pedro III, and became the main home of his wife, Queen Maria I, until the court fled to Brazil in 1807, ahead of Napoleon's troops.

Inside, you walk through the Throne Room, the Music Room, the Ambassadors' Room and the chapel. Pedro IV, who was also Brazil's first emperor, was born and died here, in the Don Quixote Room. Outside, the gardens by the French architect Jean-Baptiste Robillion mix formal parterres, statues, cascades and the tiled canal. The catch: Queluz is now a busy suburb, so the palace sits among traffic rather than in the hills like Sintra's palaces.

Before you go: the palace is open from 9am to 6pm and the gardens until 6:30pm, with last entry at 5:30pm, and a ticket costs €13. On Monday, 16 November, it's closed in the morning and opens at 2pm. Carris Metropolitana bus 1513 stops outside.

Local tip: buy your ticket online from Parques de Sintra, because the ticket office closes from noon to 1pm.

Find it here: Google Maps

WORD OF THE DAY

Say it: muh-TAR sow-DAH-dush

Meaning: to finally see someone or do something you've been missing (literally, to kill the longing)

“A minha mãe chega no Natal, vamos finalmente matar saudades.”
My mum arrives at Christmas, we'll finally get to see each other after so long.

Saudade is the longing for someone or something you miss, and you'll hear "tenho saudades tuas", I miss you, all the time. Brazilians usually say it in the singular, matar a saudade.

North

Porto

Centre

Lisbon

South

Islands

Até amanhã,

Gabriel - DailyPortugal