How to Update Your Contact Details with AIMA

This guide covers how to update the contact details AIMA holds for you — your postal address and your email address — and why that is not merely sensible housekeeping. Article 86 of the immigration law (Lei n.º 23/2007) requires a resident to communicate a change of domicile within 60 days, and Article 202(1) makes failure to do so a *contra-ordenação* punishable by a fine of €45 to €90. Neither article was touched by the October 2025 reform. This is a duty, not a suggestion.

It doesn't cover getting a slot (How to Book an AIMA Appointment), what to take with you on the day (What to Bring to Your AIMA Appointment), or what to do once an appointment has already gone wrong (Missed or Cancelled AIMA Appointment) — although a stale email address is the commonest reason a notification never arrives, so if that has happened to you, the fix starts on this page. For what AIMA is and how its channels work, see Understanding AIMA. For the documents behind an address declaration, see The Documents You'll Need. If you're not sure which route you're even on, start with Which Immigration Route Is Right for You?.

Is this guide for you?

Read it — and act on it — if any of these is true:

• You have moved house since your last permit was issued, or since your last contact with AIMA (or with SEF, before it was extinguished).
• The email address AIMA holds is tied to an employer, a university or a domain you have left, or you simply can't remember which one you used when you registered.
• You are about to start a renewal, a booking, or any other process, and you are not certain what AIMA holds for you.
• You have been waiting a long time and heard nothing at all. Silence is not neutral. It is a symptom.
• A card was approved and never arrived.

Do it before the process, not after. An update submitted before you file costs you a few days. An update submitted after a card has already been posted to the wrong address costs you a re-issue fee, a Loja visit, and months.

One-minute summary

AIMA's contact form (`contactenos.aima.gov.pt/contact-form`) is the door. You pick a *Tipo de Assunto* and a *Subtipo*, and the pair you pick is the whole game — AIMA warns that submissions filed outside the scope of the topic chosen "serão automaticamente desconsiderados": automatically disregarded, with no error message and no reply. You then attach exactly three PDF files, submit once, and check your *área pessoal* yourself in two or three working days, because AIMA does not promise to confirm anything.

For the address there are two different routes, and which one is right for you turns on a single question: do I have a live process?

Which route? Answer one question first

*Official Requirement.* AIMA splits the address change in two, by whether a process is currently running:

• You are inside a renewal / Portal de Renovações process. Contact form → *Tipo de Assunto* "Portal de Renovações" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Morada". This is the route for someone whose file is open and whose card has not yet been produced.
• You already hold your title and no process is running. Contact form → *Tipo de Assunto* "Alteração de dados (sem necessidade agendamento)" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Morada – Sem emissão de novo Cartão". Note what that subtype's own name tells you: AIMA's record is corrected, and no new card is printed.

For the email address, there is one route regardless: contact form → *Tipo* "Portal de Renovações" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Endereço de mail". It sits under the same topic as "Retificar ou inserir NISS", which is a useful landmark if you are hunting for it in the menu.

The complete process

Step 1 — Decide exactly what you are changing

Address, email, or both. If both, they are two separate submissions — different topics, different subtypes. Don't try to do them in one message.

If it is your phone number, stop and read the phone section below. There is no published way to change it on its own.

Step 2 — Gather your identifiers

Have these in front of you before you open the form: full name and date of birth exactly as they appear on your passport, nationality, passport number, your residence-permit or visa number, your process number if you have one, your NIF, the email address you used when you registered (AIMA asks for it when something goes wrong), and both the old and the new value of whatever you are changing.

Step 3 — Prepare exactly three PDF attachments

*Official Requirement.* The form's own configuration for the morada, e-mail, NIF, NISS and NNU subtypes sets a minimum of three files and a maximum of three. PDF only. With two attachments the form will not submit; with four it will not accept them.

Step 4 — Write the message

Short and factual. State what is changing — old value, then new value — and give your identifiers. The person on the other side needs to find your record, not to understand your life. A clean two-line summary beats three paragraphs of context every time.

Step 5 — Submit once, and only once

*Official Requirement.* AIMA's own instruction is blunt: "Submeta apenas uma vez o pedido." Submit it once. Do not also email it. Do not also phone it in. Do not also submit it again under a different topic "just in case". Duplicate submissions do not accelerate anything — they fragment your record across queues and make it harder for anyone to see what you actually asked for.

Screenshot the confirmation, the reference number, the date and the time. That screenshot is the only evidence you will have that you complied within the 60 days.

Step 6 — Verify it yourself

*Official Requirement.* AIMA promises no confirmation. It tells you to check the change in your *área pessoal* yourself. So put a note in your calendar and go and look.

How long does it take?

*Official Requirement — and AIMA contradicts itself.* Its FAQ and its news items say 2 working days. The live form's own on-screen instruction says 3 working days. Both are AIMA. We have no basis to choose between them, so: allow 2–3 working days, and know that AIMA's own sources disagree.

*Practical Advice.* Since nothing is confirmed to you, treat the update as done only when you can see the new value in your área pessoal. Until then it is a submission, not a change.

Do not pay the DUC yet

*Official Requirement.* AIMA says this explicitly, and it matters: do not pay the DUC (the payment slip) until the new address is showing in your área pessoal. Paying against a record that still carries the old address is how a card gets produced and posted to an address you left two years ago — and at that point you are into re-issue fees rather than a free correction.

Your address is not just a postbox — it is a substantive condition

*Official Requirement.* For AIMA, where you live is part of your application, not merely a delivery instruction. Accommodation is proved by a declaration under oath (*declaração sob compromisso de honra*) on AIMA's own "Minuta Declaração de Alojamento", in which you name the legal basis on which you occupy the home — *proprietário* (owner), *usufrutuário*, *arrendatário* (tenant) or *comodatário* (occupying under a loan-for-use) — plus the evidence that matches that basis: the land-registry certificate if you own it, the lease if you rent it, and so on.

If you are not named on the lease — you live with a partner, you're a sub-tenant, you're in a room in someone else's flat — the bar is higher. You need an additional declaration made under criminal responsibility, and a certificate of *domicílio fiscal* from the Autoridade Tributária that is less than 30 days old.

*Practical Advice.* Which means an address change is sometimes a document exercise, not a form exercise. If your new home has a different legal basis from your old one, you will need different evidence. Plan for that before you start, not after the form has rejected you.

*Legal Interpretation.* And registering at an address you don't actually live at — a friend's flat, an agency, an old lease — is not a shortcut. It's a false declaration in a document you signed under oath, and, entirely apart from that, it sends your residence card somewhere you will never see it.

Your phone number: there is no published route

We enumerated every live category and subcategory on AIMA's contact form on 13 July 2026, and searched the FAQs. There is no subtopic for changing a phone number, and no published procedure for it. The phone number exists only as a field inside other forms.

We are telling you this rather than inventing a workaround, because a made-up path here would cost you the same silent *desconsiderado* as any other wrong topic. If your phone number has changed, the practical consequence is small — AIMA's notifications ride on email, which is exactly why the email route exists and the phone one apparently doesn't. Fix the email. Keep the phone accurate in whatever forms you complete from now on.

Fees — and what "sem emissão de novo Cartão" actually means

*Official Requirement.* Read the subtype's name carefully: "Comunicar/retificar Morada – Sem emissão de novo Cartão" means *without issuing a new card*. AIMA's record is updated, free of charge. The plastic in your pocket still shows the old address, and it is not reprinted.

If you want a card that shows the new details, that is a different thing with a different price:

• Substituição por alteração de elementos (replacement because the data changed): 25% of the emission fee.
• 2.ª via (a second copy, the loss-or-theft route): 50% of the emission fee. A third or subsequent copy: 100%.
• A card that is wrong through AIMA's own error: free — but you must go to a Loja within 20 days of receiving it. Don't sit on it.

*Practical Advice.* Fee tables are re-indexed. The percentages above are the structure; check the current AIMA fee table immediately before you pay anything, and don't trust any total — including one you read here.

Where the card actually goes, and what happens when it comes back

*Official Requirement.* AIMA states that residence cards are sent by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt (CTT), to the address given in the request. That single sentence is the reason this guide exists.

If the card cannot be delivered:

• CTT leaves a notice and holds the card at a CTT store for collection.
• If you don't collect it there, the card goes back to AIMA.
• AIMA's published recovery path is a *convocatória* — a written summons sent to your email — inviting you to collect the card at a Loja AIMA. If your process was filed through a portal, that is how it reaches you; otherwise you go to the Loja where you filed.

An AIMA address change does not propagate

*Official Requirement.* This is the part people get wrong most often, and it is not their fault — they have heard that changing your address in Portugal updates everything at once. It does, if you hold a Cartão de Cidadão. Residence-permit holders don't. So the automatic propagation everyone talks about does not apply to you.

You must update three institutions separately:

• AIMA — as described above.
• Autoridade Tributária (Finanças) — your *domicílio fiscal*. The deadline is 15 days from the change in the ordinary case, or 60 days where the change flips you between resident and non-resident status.
• Segurança Social — separately again.

*Practical Advice — and this one is a genuine bonus.* AIMA states outright that if Segurança Social still holds your foreign address, correcting it is "essencial para a normal tramitação do processo". In plain terms: a stale Social Security address can stall your AIMA permit. If you have been waiting and waiting with no explanation, this is a cheap thing to go and check.

Common mistakes

• Using a work or university email for a process that will outlast the job. Use a personal address you will still control in five years.
• Starting the renewal first and correcting the address afterwards, once nothing has arrived.
• Picking the wrong *Tipo de Assunto*, so the request is *desconsiderado* — silently — and you spend a month waiting for a reply that will never come.
• Submitting two attachments instead of three, and concluding the site is broken.
• Paying the DUC before the new address appears in your *área pessoal*.
• Attaching a junta de freguesia atestado as proof of address.
• Assuming "sem emissão de novo Cartão" means a new card is coming. It means the opposite.
• Assuming an AIMA change reaches Finanças and Segurança Social. It doesn't.
• Submitting through several channels at once — form, email and phone — which fragments your record instead of speeding it up.
• Not screenshotting the confirmation and reference number. You may need to prove you complied within the 60 days.
• Treating silence as reassurance. AIMA promises no confirmation. Go and look.

If the update itself fails

The contact form is a system, and systems fail. *Official Requirement.* AIMA publishes the escalation route:

• Contact form → *Tipo* "Portal de Renovações" → "Portal de Renovações – comunicar problema", attaching your título, a screenshot of the problem, a description of what you tried, and the email address you used when you registered.
• DUC problems specifically: `geral@aima.gov.pt`.
• Centro de Contacto: 217 115 000, Monday to Friday, 08:00–20:00.

Scams and phishing

Exceptional situations

• A deadline passed because a notification never reached you. Gather the evidence *now*, while it exists: the old address on AIMA's record, the returned letter, the dates of your update requests, the confirmation screenshots. That paper trail is the whole case.
• A card was issued and never delivered. Fix the address and the email first — otherwise the *convocatória* can't reach you either — then ask AIMA where the card is being held.
• You are already past the 60 days. Communicate the change anyway. A late communication is a *contra-ordenação* in the €45–€90 band; an uncommunicated one leaves you with an address AIMA can't reach, which is a much more expensive problem than a €90 fine.

When it is time for legal help

If a decision was taken in your absence because a notification never arrived, if a deadline has lapsed for the same reason, or if repeated, correctly-filed attempts to correct your record have been ignored while your status is at risk — that is a lawyer's job.

Frequently asked questions

Is updating my address actually compulsory?

Yes. Article 86 of Lei n.º 23/2007 requires a resident to communicate a change of domicílio — and of civil status — within 60 days. Article 202(1) makes the breach a *contra-ordenação* punishable by a fine of €45 to €90.

Then why does everyone talk about it as "good practice"?

Because the enforcement is invisible and the consequence — a card sent to the wrong place — feels like bad luck rather than a penalty. It is both.

The law says to tell "SEF". SEF doesn't exist.

Correct, and we won't pretend otherwise: the statute's text still literally says *comunicar ao SEF*. SEF was extinguished and AIMA succeeded to its functions, so in practice you communicate to AIMA. The duty is unaffected by the name in the text.

How do I change my email address with AIMA?

Contact form → *Tipo de Assunto* "Portal de Renovações" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Endereço de mail". It sits under the same topic as "Retificar ou inserir NISS".

How do I change my address?

It depends on one thing: do you have a live process? If you are inside a renewal, it is *Tipo* "Portal de Renovações" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Morada". If you already hold your title and nothing is running, it is *Tipo* "Alteração de dados (sem necessidade agendamento)" → *Subtipo* "Comunicar/retificar Morada – Sem emissão de novo Cartão".

What happens if I pick the wrong one?

AIMA says requests outside the scope of the topic chosen "serão automaticamente desconsiderados". Nothing happens. No error, no reply, no update.

How do I change my phone number?

You can't — not through any published route. We enumerated the whole live category tree and there is no phone subtopic and no FAQ item. It exists only as a field inside other forms. Don't trust any guide that tells you otherwise.

How many documents do I attach?

Exactly three, and PDF only. The form's minimum and maximum are both three. Fewer than three and it will not submit.

Which three?

AIMA doesn't publish that for the address and email subtypes. That is a real gap, not a failure on your part. See Step 3 for the set we consider defensible — and note that it is our reading, not an AIMA instruction.

How long does it take?

2–3 working days — AIMA's own sources disagree. Its FAQ and news say two; the live form's own instruction says three.

Will AIMA confirm it?

No. AIMA promises no confirmation and tells you to check your *área pessoal* yourself.

Does it cost anything?

Updating AIMA's record is free. Getting a card that shows the new details is a *substituição por alteração de elementos* at 25% of the emission fee. The subtype called "Sem emissão de novo Cartão" tells you plainly that no card is being printed.

My card was approved but never arrived. What now?

Cards go by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt to the address on the request. If it can't be delivered, CTT holds it, and if you don't collect it there it goes back to AIMA, which then emails a *convocatória* to collect it at a Loja. Fix your email *and* your address — otherwise the convocatória can't reach you either — and ask AIMA where the card is being held.

Can I just get a 2.ª via?

Careful. The 2.ª via route requires a police report — it is designed for loss or theft. Whether a card that simply never arrived can get one without a police report is not published, and we won't guess. The published path for a returned card is the convocatória.

What if the card is wrong because AIMA made a mistake?

Then a new one is free — but you must go to a Loja within 20 days of receiving it.

Does changing my address with AIMA update Finanças and Segurança Social?

No. All three are separate. The automatic propagation you may have heard about is tied to the Cartão de Cidadão, which residence-permit holders don't have. Finanças wants the change within 15 days (60 if it changes your resident/non-resident status).

Can a stale Segurança Social address hurt my AIMA case?

AIMA says so itself: if Segurança Social still holds your foreign address, correcting it is "essencial para a normal tramitação do processo". Yes — go and check.

Can I fix this at an AIMA counter?

Not the record change itself — that goes through the contact form. But don't over-learn the rule that a Loja is always a wasted trip: AIMA does direct DUC problems to a Loja, and Lojas run limited walk-in information windows.

The form won't work. What now?

Contact form → *Portal de Renovações* → "Portal de Renovações – comunicar problema", attaching your título, a screenshot of the problem, what you tried, and the email you registered with. DUC problems go to `geral@aima.gov.pt`. Or call the Centro de Contacto, 217 115 000 (Mon–Fri, 08:00–20:00). Once. Through one channel.

I got an email telling me to confirm my details. Is it real?

Check the sender's domain. Legitimate AIMA email comes from `aima.gov.pt` (or `sef.pt` for systems still being restructured). AIMA has warned about fraudulent emails faking appointment notices. Don't click; type the address yourself.

Before you submit: final checklist

• You know which of the two address routes applies to you — because you know whether a process is live.
• You have the exact *Tipo de Assunto* and *Subtipo* in front of you, read off the live form and not off an old guide.
• You have exactly three PDF files.
• Your message states the old value and the new value, with your identifiers.
• If it's an address: your accommodation evidence matches the legal basis you're declaring, and you are not relying on a junta de freguesia *atestado*.
• You have not yet paid the DUC.
• You will submit once, screenshot the confirmation, and check your *área pessoal* in two or three working days.
• You have also put Finanças and Segurança Social on your list. They will not hear about this from AIMA.

Sources

• AIMA — contact form
• AIMA — Portal de Renovações
• AIMA
• AIMA — Frequently Asked Questions, Information Services (March 2026)
• Portuguese immigration law — consolidated Lei n.º 23/2007