Hello everybody and happy new year.
I really donāt know if the 2022 changes applied or not.
But today I opened SEF website to follow up my application status and I found this sentence written in red flag:
NĆ£o Ć© possĆvel concluir a candidatura porque o tipo de investimento aguarda regulamentaĆ§Ć£o
The translation in English is:
It is not possible to complete the application because the type of investment awaits regulation.
Please note that I applied my application on the 25th of October and I paid the application fee on the 25th of October and from that time every time I open the SEF website I see:
Status of the application: Application under analysis.
I really donāt know whatās going on with the Portuguese golden visa.
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Happy New Year!
It is the same with me, same message in red while the application status itself still shows āUnder analysisā.
I assume you applied via property route?
I can only guess that this āon holdā statement has been applied temporarily to all GV applications, while SEF is revising all of their procedures in line with the 2022 GV legislation changes.
I have just checked and it looks like SEF have not yet refreshed any of their āfront endā guidance documentation on their website, so I assume it is the same with their internal procedures too.
No, I applied via the investment fund route.
I agree, I applied for a renewal and did biometrics in November, and I get the same messageā¦
Even the new regulation should not apply to me, as I have my GV for 3 years now, and this is the 2 renewal.
itās a standard message probably to all GV applications.
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I donāt even have a current pending application (renewal is some time away) and still got the same message on the site. So Iād say donāt worry about it, it looks like a message added to every single ARI account regardless of status.
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I have also received the same notification. It makes me think this is more like an automatic computer notification to signal delay in processing until SEF adjusts to new policies. My hope is that it would not start another round of major delays already exacerbated by COVID.
If anyone else has a clarification from your lawyer or representative in Portugal, please share.
I just received a confirmation from my lawyer in Portugal that this message is issued to all outstanding applications regardless of their status.
For now, I would just ignore it.
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Same feedback from my Lawyer. We can safely ignore it.
Hi everyone, any update regarding the status of your GV procedures on the platform? Mine still says āNĆ£o Ć© possĆvel concluir a candidatura porque o tipo de investimento aguarda regulamentaĆ§Ć£oā. One would think that a month would be enough to take care of whatever backend issue is causing this āerrorā, but SEF is SEF, after all.
All in know is that some people are getting their pre-approvals and also biometric invites just fine while this message is still on apparently for everybody.
Hello everyone,
SEF is updating the platform for the new reality of these recent changes.
Submission of new applications is not permitted and therefore, I am submitting processes in paper and wait to see what happens.
Its very bad that we are already in the 25th of January and we still donāt have an online portal updated and itās compromising the new applications
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Dear Madalena,
Please tell me, do you have any news about it? Was it suitable for the SEF to receive the documents on paper at this moment? Have you received an answer?
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Hello George
until now, i dont have any feedback but i believe that its important not to stop as my clients documents may expire meanwhile and if I send the documents by post, I dont even have to argue in the future
I spoke with other lawyers and its happening to everyone.
I have sent emails and calls to sef but no reply
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Dear Madalena, thank you for your update.
I am handling my own process (with some advice from some Portuguese lawyer friends who donāt usually do immigration law), and interfacing with SEF has been a nightmare. In a way itās a relief to know that everyone is going through the same.
Dear Madalena,
Thanks for your last reply! Maybe you have some new information?
I found this article: IAS - International Atlantic Services Apparently, the ARI portal will not work until May-June. Because Portugalās new government delayed by 157,000 invalid votes from abroad.
This is a very bad situation. There is a law and it is in force, but we cannot submit our applications 
I hope that your experience of sending documents by physical mail will be positive.
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Hi George
Thank you for sharing that information. I will go to SEF headquarter next Wednesday in order to express my concerns and try to find a solution for this issue.
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Hi all!
Just a small update: the red error message on my application on the SEF platform has disappeared, now my status is just āEm AnĆ”liseā (āUnder analysisā). Looks like the website has been updated.
Now I just have to wait to be notified for the fingerprintingā¦
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Hi Madalena,
Please tell me, how was the meeting at the SEF? Is there any positive news?
Thank you in advance!