Iām going to be outside the US for the next 2 weeks and Iām debating whether to return earlier to do my fingerprints for the FBI report. Iām working with VCA (please ping me if you also are), and my GV submission date was July 18, 2023.
There are channelers outside the US that can do your prints if your in a city that has one you can do it there.
Otherwise, consensus is that you have a few months to get your documents submitted.
Also, in the Prime Legal Q&A and the IAS webpage, it all states that those who have done their biometrics remain unaffected.
Liberty Legal webinar said the same, that the new process doesnāt apply to those whoāve already done biometrics.
So then what becomes of us in the biometrics-completed group? Sounds like theyāre diverting resources to the pre-biometrics group.
I expect theyāre trying to balance resources between the two groups. I do really feel for those without even a pre-approval from applications 3 years ago.
On a positive, I saw someone report getting their final approval, albeit after a lawsuit, 3 days after their biometrics. Iāve not heard of it being this fast even after lawsuits, so I think it bodes well.
Also, having now had clarification from AIMA directly that they are counting the 5 year period from the date of payment of initial application fee, I feel a lot more comfortable that the wait is at least counting. Not helpful for those who want to move to PT in short-term, but theyāre probably best pursuing a lawsuit to expedite.
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My theory is they set up extra biometric capacity (6000 appointments/day) around the country which was initially targeting the huge Manifestation of Interest backlog. It would make sense to continue to use the infrastructure set up to catch-up on all biometrics then redirect the resources to processing the final approvals.
Since AIMA has finally confirmed that the 5-year clock started on payment of the initial analysis fee, Iām super-relaxed, and would be happy to receive my first residence card 4 years and 11 months from that date.
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Sorry if I missed it, but where did they (finally) confirm when the 5 year period starts?
It seems to have been confirmed by AIMA at this weekās meeting with lawyers. See:
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I think only applies to people who donāt want to move to Portugal, unfortunately and/or have the Shenzhen visa. Unfortunately many people on this forum seem to be waiting to get the card ASAP 
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Although it is better than nothing, Aimaās verbal confirmation can be put in the trash bin anytime. The most solid solution is that resident card is issued together with the ācontagem do tempoā confirming the initial date count for citizenshipās application.
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Apt solutionā¦
Not sure what China has to do with anything 
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(JK, I obviously understood what you meant.)
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And there comes at least a basic level confirmation. The chronological order of biometric appointment will be followed not basis the original submission date but basis the submission of updated documents done nowā¦so, we are part of a rat race already biased in favor of some.
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What will happen to those who have done biometrics already? Will that be speeded up as well? I did my biometrics in Feb 2024 and still waiting. Not sure how long I have to keep await. This whole process makes me anxious.
I could see that the same problem will continue to happen again.
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People that need Schengen Visa to enter Portugal will be having tough time. It normally takes at least 2-3 months to get the visa. And it is getting more difficult to apply for visa nowadays. If Aima continue to give fixed dates for appointment, some will not be able to attend due to visa issues. Just had some words with a chinese friend today in lisbon and it takes at least 4 months in Beijing to get the Schengen visa from portuguese embassy
. If counting all nationalities that need Schengen Visa i.e. China India Russia South Africa Turkey Lebanon, the number can be up to 90% of total investors. And to be optimistic, if 30% of those investors cannot get the visa on time, it is already a signiticant number which should never be neglected. Aima knows and everybody knows that most of Gv investors come from countries where Schengen visa is required and obtaining visa which meets the biormetric appointmentās date is one of the most difficult challenge. But somehow Aima still does not give any solution for it. Genius!! -
People who do not meet the timeline to upload all documents online will have to provide the documents at the appointment. If documents are provided at the moment of the biometric, then it is 100% sure that Aimaās staffs cannot evaluate and give the approval same day. Consequently, they might be refused to pay for card issuance because they have not received the approval.
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The chronological order is not respected. Someone is about to apply now in Jan 2025 and he/she already started preparing all documents since Oct 2024. Surely he/she will be the first one to upload docs into the new system, and will be given the biometric first. Whereas someone applied in 2022 and now has to run around for a new set of docs and still might not even be able to fully complete all of it, and will receive the schedule of biometric way later than the newbie.
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Biometric appointments will be distributed randomly without considering that the children need the parents. What if a family of 3 has biometric appointments in 3 different location. Father in Lisbon. Mother in Porto. Child in Faro. It can possibly happen.
Thatās how genius Aima is. And some people still believe that it is a positive effort. 
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You are spot on. I can confirm that it is another sewer lid opened by AIMA for ARI investors to drool over and fall in.
Stars have to be aligned, no u have to be literally blessed by the heavens for portuguese embassy certification appointments, schengen appointments and AIMA biometric appointments to line up in harmony for the first residency card to fall in your lap. The portuguese embassy did not even entertain my request for certification on police certificate citing I did not come with appointment even though I was carrying screenshots for no appointments being available for next 4 weeks on their portal, urgency letter from my lawyer, proof of GV investments and explained my situation as patiently as I could.
And the staff there made it explicitly clear, visa can only be applied through VFS center, so, if i dont have schengen appointment, I am done for.
Only my lords with their bum resting on Portuguese high horses know in which order finally appointments trickle in.
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And now tourists are applying for schengen visa planning to travel in summers with vacations for children coming up.
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Me and my dependents, we could not even contact Portuguese embassy to apply for visa. I had to get french visa. Dependents got tourist visa from embassy of other european countries. VFS center sucks!!! Iām glad iāve done with it!!!
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Perfect example of an inefficient monopoly in a world where scanned documents can be uploaded, checked and validated using OCR, ML and AI.
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