While thousands of immigrants wait months for their documents and struggle to get a response from AIMA, the agency spends around €500,000 a year on having PSP officers stationed at its service centres. This is despite the fact that the offices are already protected by private security companies.

AIMA says private security staff are responsible for access control and visitor safety, while police officers carry out duties that, under Portuguese law, can only be performed by the police. These include certain administrative procedures as well as criminal matters. PSP says its officers work at AIMA offices outside their regular duty schedules because the assignment is considered to be in the public interest. However, neither organisation has disclosed how much of the funding goes to the police force itself and how much is paid directly to the officers.

The spending has drawn criticism. Immigration lawyer Fábio Pimentel argues that the visible police presence reinforces the idea that immigration is primarily a law enforcement issue rather than a public service. In his view, the money would be better spent on speeding up AIMA’s work and improving services. Immigration lawyer Catarina Zuccaro echoed that criticism, pointing to AIMA’s recent email processing contract worth €237,000.

The story stands out even more given AIMA’s financial position. In 2024–2025, the agency collected more than €101 million in fees paid by immigrants, while reporting a profit of €62 million.