According to Expresso, which quotes a report by the agency on the recovery of the pending cases of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), prepared this month, the new agency started operating in October 2023 with only 714 employees - 41% of the contingent of the extinct agencies that would be available. The document states that there was "a net reduction in the total number of employees, due to the departure of several workers, not compensated by the entries that have occurred in the meantime". "Many more immediately requested a transfer to other State services, but AIMA stopped them, a situation that will not be possible, by law, according to Expresso, which quotes a source linked to the agency who says that most employees have resubmitted the request. The report cited by Expresso indicates: "There are several mobility requests, which are estimated to represent the departure of 100 workers". The lack of resources intensifies the problem in the agency, given the high number of requests inherited from SEF for immigrant residence permits awaiting a response. Expresso also quotes the report stating that AIMA points to the existence of at least 459,384 ongoing proceedings as of October 29, 2023, the majority (344,619) of legalisation through expressions of interest (for immigrants who are already in Portugal, without the need for legal entry into the territory). "At the time of the extinction of SEF, there were still more than 3,200 humanitarian protection processes pending - 327 of which were for minors -, 4 thousand asylum applications and almost 15 thousand related to obtaining nationality", adds the newspaper. The report also highlights the legacy of 3 thousand coercive removals of immigrants who entered or remained illegally in Portugal. "An effort was necessary (still ongoing) to reconstruct the state of analysis, given the non-existence of a database that indicates the state of each process. So far, it has been possible to inventory the processes of 2022 and 2023, totalling 508", says the document quoted by Expresso, which says that these numbers are underestimated. "For example, they do not include gold visa applications, residence permits for students or those made within the scope of family reunification", it adds. In the report, AIMA also acknowledges that "it is not possible to identify in a simple and reliable way the number of pending cases" with the information contained in the databases. However, the waiting time for immigrants is easier to assess. Most of the processes were initiated from 2017 onwards and there are six from an earlier date, still without a response, including one from 2008 and one from 2009, writes the newspaper, which indicates that the weaknesses of the system's information are repeatedly mentioned in the report. AIMA speaks of the "obsolescence of the technological infrastructure" which required "significant corrective and maintenance interventions to ensure response capacity and minimum standards of cybersecurity and information security". Last week, the Government announced that it will review the institutional model for the inspection of immigrants, considering it a "folly" the way in which AIMA replaced the extinct SEF. "Portugal had an institution, the institution was eliminated, its human resources were distributed among several institutions", a decision criticised by several parties and organisations, said the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, who promised to announce the measures for the sector "in the coming weeks", which include a "correction also in the institutional domain", without committing to maintaining AIMA. Read Also: Today's news: AIMA? One hundred employees want to leave; More young people 'neither-nor' (Portuguese version)