AIMA Proof of Accommodation: Documents for Your Housing Situation

• AIMA's accommodation guidance requires your own declaration on honour plus the evidence for ownership, renting or comodato.
• If you are not named in the lease or comodato agreement, its additional route includes property/owner details and an AT tax-domicile certificate issued less than 30 days ago.
• School-arranged housing and university residences have specific evidence routes.
• Junta de Freguesia attestations are not accepted as accommodation proof in this guidance; do not generalise that to every public service.

For an AIMA residence-permit accommodation check, prepare your own declaration of where you live and the legal basis for using that home, together with the documents for that basis. A lease alone does not cover every situation, and a document proving your tax address is not the same as proving your right to occupy a property. This guide covers the accommodation instructions for residence-permit grants and renewals, not all immigration applications or the whole renewal process.

The checklist below follows AIMA's accommodation notice and pages 2–3 of its March 2026 FAQ, checked on 7 October 2026. Read your specific notification too: the document set and delivery channel must match your own process. EU municipal residence registration is a different task; see the CRUE guide rather than applying this checklist to a first council registration.

Which accommodation documents do I need for AIMA?

The table is a route chooser, not a guarantee of acceptance. Identify the arrangement you really have before gathering documents. Do not describe a tenancy as comodato just because obtaining the rent receipt is awkward, or declare an address where you do not live. AIMA says it analyses the number of residents declared for each home; its notice does not give a universal maximum number that this guide can quote.

What if the lease is not in my name?

AIMA expressly addresses applicants not identified in lease or comodato agreements. Its March FAQ says to add the following at the appointment: your own declaration on honour, with criminal responsibility for false statements, and a certificate from AT issued less than 30 days earlier that clearly identifies your tax domicile. This is an additional evidence route, not permission to leave every housing document out of the file.

• State that you actually live at the address.
• Include the property's land-registry description number and whether your occupation is under a lease or comodato.
• Include the full name and NIF/NIPC of the owner who made the property available for your housing.
• Obtain the recent AT certificate showing your own correct tax domicile.

For a shared flat or a stay with family, first ask which agreement covers the home and obtain the necessary property and owner details accurately. Do not guess a registry number, substitute a utility bill for the specified certificate, or upload someone else's certificate as yours. If there is no documented arrangement that fits the instructions, ask AIMA how to evidence the actual situation. Paying for a generic accommodation letter is not proof that it meets your request.

Where do I get the official accommodation declaration?

Use AIMA's forms and templates page and select Minuta Declaração de Alojamento. The official applicant template asks for identity/passport details, the housing basis, address, postal code, residence-since date, place, date and signature. Complete it truthfully. For the not-named-in-contract route, also provide the extra registry and owner details that the accommodation guidance requires; do not assume the short template's printed blanks cover the whole checklist.

Keep the applicant's statement separate from a landlord/host declaration or a different responsibility form. AIMA's general Article 77 service page still refers to a landlord or hosting-entity declaration for tenants and similar cases, while its accommodation notice and March FAQ give the more detailed contract/receipt routes. Do not turn that difference into 'a landlord declaration is never needed' or a blanket rule about notarisation. Follow the specific request and ask for written clarification if the instructions differ.

How do I obtain the AT tax-domicile certificate?

AT's February 2026 instructions say to search Portal das Finanças for Certidão de Domicílio Fiscal, open Pedir Certidão, authenticate, select Domicílio Fiscal (Morada), then Confirmar and Obter. Online certificates are free. Choose the address certificate, not a tax-residence certificate for a treaty or a debt-status certificate. Check the address and issue date before using it. If the record is wrong, use the fiscal-address guide first; downloading another copy does not update the underlying record.

Where AIMA requires a certificate less than 30 days old, obtain it close enough to the appointment or requested submission that it still meets that requirement. That is not a 30-day expiry rule for every certificate or every public-service request. Keep the original PDF and its validation information for the authority; avoid sharing your NIF, address or document codes in public help threads.

Which property certificate is meant?

The permanent land-register certificate concerns the property's legal registry. IRN's current request service describes a six-month access code and charges €15 online or €20 in person for that request. Existing valid access may avoid a new request. Its consultation instructions say a printout of the online information does not replace the legally valid online consultation. Keep the access code available instead of assuming any screenshot is the certificate.

Do not confuse the property's registry description number with its AT article number, or confuse the land-register certificate with your personal AT address certificate. They answer different questions. AIMA's ownership route accepts a valid permanent-certificate code or valid physical certificate; use the requested type rather than substituting a tax property sheet. A registered lease is also a separate administrative task, not the applicant's accommodation declaration.

Are student residences and Junta certificates treated differently?

AIMA provides specific student routes. Where a school rents from a private entity, the school agreement can be accompanied by an authenticated declaration individually naming the students who actually reside there, if the agreement does not name them. Without a school lease, the March FAQ specifies a certified school declaration identifying the student's residence and the legal basis for using the property, plus an AT tax-domicile certificate less than 30 days old. For a university residence, it lists a higher-education institution certificate attesting the applicant's right to accommodation.

Ask your institution which arrangement applies and what it can issue. A general enrolment letter does not say that you have housing. AIMA's accommodation notice and FAQ explicitly exclude Junta de Freguesia attestations as proof for the procedures they cover. That is not a statement that a Junta document has no use anywhere: different residence and public-service routes may accept different evidence. Check the particular authority and task before ordering a document.

Where do I send missing accommodation documents?

Use the channel for the process in your notification. For residence-permit grant processes initiated with AIMA, its March FAQ describes the contact form: Autorização de Residência, then Envio de documentos para junção a processos em curso apenas na AIMA, including the process number from the application receipt. That route specifies 3–5 files, up to 10 MB each. Those limits and that option are not universal instructions for every AIMA portal.

For a missing-document notification in Portal de Renovações, upload in that portal's personal area; for one in services.aima.gov.pt, use that personal area. Check current availability and follow the notice's deadline. Name files simply, for example alojamento.pdf; AIMA recommends short names without accents or special characters and trying another browser if an upload fails. Reopen each file to check legibility, preserve the submission receipt and do not treat a successful upload as approval.

If the process also mentions criminal records, distinguish authorisation for AIMA to access the Portuguese record from a foreign-country certificate. Use the criminal-record certificate guide to check country, purpose and request channel; accommodation evidence answers a different requirement.

If you moved, also use the moving-house checklist. For a landlord's separate AT task, see lease registration. Neither replaces the evidence for your AIMA process. Finkavo can help you organise questions and documents; only the responsible authority decides whether your evidence satisfies the request.