Stumbled across this old article from 2018 whilst looking for something else.
Wonder if AIMA could pull off a similar miracle this year?
âPortugalâs Borders and Immigration Service (the SEF) reports that its application backlog â which stood at more than 6,000 by the end of 2017 â has been reduced by nearly 80% over the last six months following procedural changes. Waiting times for SEF appointments in Lisbon have been cut from more than three months to just one day, reports the Portuguese media.â
Unlikely, but AIMA has given many hints about their future direction. They are building as we speak on new digital portal that will allow applicants to submit documents online and possibly refresh them in real time. Once documents are reviewed, they wonât need to be repeatedly updated. Once biometrics are done the first time, AIMA wonât need to do that again, saving hundreds of hours of scheduling and holding appointments for renewals. Also, AIMA wonât need to request new criminal and birth records each time - possibly they will just use the existing one or tell you to update them before they get to the review phase.
The way I see it playing out is the auto renewal will go away, to be replaced with a semi-auto renewal. You will upload your documents and proofs to the portal, and AIMA will gather other information about you from other sources to validate your documents (e.g., borders agency, government databases, terrorist databases, etc). If you check out, you wonât need to go in for biometrics, they will issue the renewal in due course.
Well, because autorenewal allows to renew without complying with conditions of permit. For example, for usual permit a person may not spend required time in Portugal etc, drop the job, close the business, for GV a person may sell the property, and not spend 14 days required. Not saying that they even do not check criminal record. And apparently Portugal keeps low profile on that as Europe is not loudly shouting protests about that. Autorenewal without any control is obviously against European rules.
Apparently in was not safe in the past, and it is not safe going forward, especially after Portugal simplified the permits for portuguese-speaking countries, and Portugal wants to stop this practice as soon as possible, before EU complains
I didnât realize online renewal had so few checks.
But itâs entirely possible to do online renewal with all those checks, without the stupid parts like requiring new biometrics (identical to old biometrics), a new copy of the birth certificate (identical to the old birth certificate), a new copy of the marriage certificate (identical to the old one) etc.
Birth certificates are updated in case of an investor demise, same for marriage certificate in case of divorce. Hence why the renewal.
My wife and I share ownership of the investment. The implications in case of divorce or demiseâŠ
A birth certificate in the US does not change when you die. And a marriage certificate in the US does not change when you divorce. But since we are dealing with different systems, that contributes to the issue. To a US applicant, these requirements seem silly, for that reason. I just reason that in other systems it could be different, so I comply even though itâs frustrating.
Protest at AIMA Lisbon on 18-April (discussed here) got the following response:
Government acknowledges serious immigration issues - The Portugal News, 19-April 2024
Minister AntĂłnio LeitĂŁo Amaro states, quoted in the same statement, said that âthis evolution and assessmentâ carried out in the two weeks since this Government took office, âconfirms previous diagnoses regarding the incorrectness of previous political and institutional options and their execution, particularly regarding the process of ending the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and the implementation of AIMAâ.
The Government adds that, given the dismemberment of SEF by the previous socialist executive, âhundreds of thousands of cases relating to migrant citizens are pending decision and there are serious difficulties in the functioning of the control, inspection, reception, and integration systemâ.
There was also an article in TPN on this a few days agoâŠ
Government to assess end of SEF and AIMA situation - The Portugal News, 11-April 2024
The government will âpromote a rigorous assessment of the extinction of SEF and its integration into other services, namely, to identify and correct legal non-conformities, operational failures and areas of conflict of competencesâ, states the program of the XXIV Constitutional Government delivered today to the Assembly of the Republic.
The Government also proposes to âevaluate the restructuring of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), in order to correct legal, operational and conflict of competence flawsâ.
Also there are mentions on social media that people are starting to get their cards (non GV) and AIMA will be working to solve the issue in the upcoming week, because of the pressure and protests recently.
Itâs true that residence cards have been issued quickly regarding recent appointments, particularly since January 2024. However, it seems that AIMAâs attitude has been âwhatâs in the past, stays in the pastâ. Our advice as lawyers to those who have been waiting longer than expected is to take a lawsuit against AIMA.
Our attorney has repeatedly offered to initiate a lawsuit for us. As GV applicants with no special need to push to the head of the line (e.g. no kids who need to start school), we have to date decided not to go that route. Our sole motivation is to complete our biometrics by January 2025, in the event that the election doesnât go our way. Our feeling is that the Portuguese government may be less inclined to grant us citizenship down the road if we are known to be litigious. Maybe Iâm wrong. Weâre November 2022 applicants with nothing but tumbleweeds in the wind, like most of you. Anybody else just getting frustrated and initiating a lawsuit without a defined cause other than general frustration?
