I see that the responses published on threads related to current processing times for GV applications are a bit older (2021/2022 disrupted by Covid). I thought it might be good to start a new post-Covid thread to report current times people are experiencing—Particularly in light of the proposed changes to the GV program and how that might be affecting times.
We submitted our family application at the end of February 2023 and are still awaiting our pre-approval at the beginning of June (3-1/2 months). I am wondering if others are experiencing similar processing times and what period of time people are experiencing from pre-approval to biometrics and biometrics to residency card issuance.
A second question I would love to hear others’ experience on is WHEN people are moving to Portugal: After pre-approval, After biometrics, or waiting until After Residency card is issued and any Schengen Visa complications that might represent.
Hi, welcome to the forums. There are several main threads covering different stages of the process. If we say that “Stage 1” is the period before filing the initial application, then we have:
- https://community.nomadgate.com/t/awaiting-pre-approval-stage-2/
- https://community.nomadgate.com/t/awaiting-biometrics-stage-3/
- https://community.nomadgate.com/t/awaiting-final-approval-stage-4/
- https://community.nomadgate.com/t/ari-holders-stage-5/
In your case the first of these has a lot of posts with people’s current experience of waiting times for pre-approval. Please do check there. Broadly, SEF is still processing applications from the end of December 2021, then it will get on to June 2022, so you will be waiting a while I’m afraid.
Hi Chris! Thank you for such an immediate review and prompt to my response. I had seen these threads but it appeared that the dates were much earlier and they appeared to be stale. But if what you say is correct and the SEF is only still processing applications now for Dec 2021 and not even to June 2021 applications then you are suggesting that the application to pre-approval timeline could be a year right now? Is that what you are seeing at this time?
Adam Pollock
Chris,
My apologies. I see why it seemed the comments on the thread were old— there are actually 1347 comments posted that are listed from oldest to most recent which takes an inordinate amount of time to scroll through to get to the more recent posts.
I was also able to find the shared Google doc where people had posted their processing times which is helpful as well.
Adam Pollock
Ah, yes, you can drag down the slider at the right to get to the most recent.
December 2021 saw a massive rush of applicants trying to beat the new rules (higher minimum amounts, restricted property purchases). There was then a shut-down of SEF online systems for nearly six months from January to June 2022, so there was another rush of applications on 15th June 2022. SEF is issuing pre-approvals to late Dec 2021 applicants; once that’s done, it should jump to June 2022 and then I think we expect the flow of approvals to be more steady after that. So it’s quite hard to tell when you could expect to hear more on your application. But settle in for the long term - it’s likely to be at least two years from application to first residency permit, if not more, unless anything changes because of the new laws or the replacement of SEF. Good luck
Chris, thank you for your thoughtful and thorough reply. I will moderate my expectations appropriately.
Adam Pollock
For your reference, long before covid, back in “normal” times, everything and everyone promised waiting times of 6 months. From my original application in early 2017 it took 15 months before I was given a SEF appointment. Those were “normal” times, before the covid backlog and various last-minute rushes to apply. Pump yourself with vitamins and exercise regularly so that you can stay alive long enough to get a biometrics appointment.
Submitted our applications in December 2022, right now is June 2023, so far nothing is happening…
They’re currently processing end of December 2021 and starting Jan 22 applications. Then there will be a big jump to June 22 as the portal was closed for new applications. Unless they speed up you probably have a while to wait. Although I believe there were fewer applications in 2022 than in Dec 21.