AIMA sent a nine-year-old a deportation notice. She's lived here since she was eight months old.

Good morning, Lisbon. It's Saturday, 18 April, and we have a proper spring day ahead — 24°C, sunshine, virtually no chance of rain. Get outside. Big news week. Here's what you need to know.

🌬️ AIR QUALITY: 26 (Good).

🗞️ TOP STORY

THE DEPORTATION ORDER AIMA SENT TO A NINE-YEAR-OLD.

On 7 April, a family in Albufeira received an email from AIMA. It told them their daughter, Beatriz, had 20 days to leave Portugal voluntarily. Beatriz is nine years old. She was brought to the Algarve when she was eight months old. Her parents, originally from Goiânia in Brazil, have stable jobs and permanent residence permits. The agency's stated reason for refusing her renewal application was missing proof of accommodation. The family had submitted a lease agreement with both children's names on it.

The case became public. Jurists and child welfare specialists described it as a serious administrative error and a potential violation of children's rights. It emerged that AIMA had also registered Beatriz's name in the centralised Internal Security System and the Schengen Area database — the same system used to flag foreign nationals for border enforcement across Europe. Her brother's name was registered too.

AIMA acknowledged on 15 April that the refusal was an error of analysis, cancelled the deportation order, and confirmed that residency for both children had been approved. In a statement, the agency committed to ensuring "legality, consistency, and quality of administrative decisions."

The Beatriz case is not an isolated data point. Complaints against AIMA rose 37% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, totalling 504 in three months alone. The agency's satisfaction index currently sits at 17.2 out of 100, a level that independent analysts have described as representing a systemic risk to Portugal's attractiveness as a destination for international talent and investment. More than 40% of complaints relate to administrative errors and documentation processing — the exact category that produced the Beatriz case.

The timing adds a sharp edge to all of this. President Lula da Silva arrives in Lisbon on Tuesday 21 April for a state visit. According to official sources, immigration and the treatment of the Brazilian community in Portugal are headline agenda items in his meetings with both President Seguro and Prime Minister Montenegro. A bureaucratic system that issued a deportation notice to a toddler-turned-nine-year-old, four days before the Brazilian president lands to discuss exactly that, is not a comfortable place for the government to be standing.

Bottom line: AIMA corrected this one because it became public. The question nobody in the agency has answered yet is how many cases like Beatriz's do not become public. With 37% more complaints this year and a satisfaction score of 17, there is no version of this story where the problem ends with Beatriz.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Citizenship law: three days. President Seguro's deadline to act on the nationality law is Tuesday 21 April. He can sign it into law, veto it, or refer it to the Constitutional Court. Most legal experts expect a referral, which would suspend the law while the Court reviews it, potentially for months. If you are planning your citizenship timeline, Tuesday is the day to watch.

Oil is back near $100 and the ceasefire expires Tuesday. Brent crude surged nearly 5% on Thursday to close at $99.39 a barrel as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains near zero with no clear path to reopening. Trump said the US and Iran will "probably" meet over the weekend for a second round of negotiations, though no date has been officially confirmed. The two-week ceasefire expires Tuesday 21 April — the same day Lula arrives and Seguro's citizenship law deadline falls. With Portugal's March energy inflation already running at 5.8%, a ceasefire collapse on Tuesday would push fuel and electricity costs higher again almost immediately.

TAP privatisation moves quietly forward. Following Air France-KLM and Lufthansa's non-binding bids submitted on 2 April, state holding company Parpública now has 30 days to assess the proposals and recommend which bidder proceeds to the binding offer stage. IAG withdrew. The decision on Portugal's national airline is heading toward a summer conclusion.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

TATI (PENHA DE FRANÇA)

Penha de França does not get enough credit. It sits just east of Graça, quiet enough that most tourists don't bother, residential enough that the restaurants that do exist there are mostly there for the neighbourhood rather than for the algorithm. Tati has been on Rua Carrilho Videira since 2020, when it moved from its original home behind the Time Out Market, and it has been quietly excellent ever since.

The kitchen turns out a weekly-changing menu that lands somewhere between European bistro and South American influence, always backed by a serious list of natural wines from small Portuguese producers. The beef empanada is the thing people mention first. So is the chocolate mousse with toasted coconut and dulce de leche. The marble counter and the terrace outside fill up quickly on a warm Saturday evening, and the crowd is the kind of neighbourhood mix that makes you feel like you have found somewhere rather than been sent there.

Culinary Backstreets called it a Lisbon trailblazer. World of Mouth lists it among the city's best natural wine spots. It is not the easiest place to find, which is most of the point.

Insider tip: Open Wednesday to Saturday from 5pm, Sunday from 6pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Rua Carrilho Videira 20B, Penha de França

→ With a weekend like this, the terrace will be full — worth booking ahead ←

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.