It shows to me that you do not come from a country that needs visa to enter the Portugal. You do not understand anything about the complexity of getting visa that covers the day of appointment.
First, aima does not give a fixed date 6 months in advance. For sure, who has the biometric appointment invitation 6 months in advance?
Second, you cannot simple apply a visa too early because the embassy now only issues visa with 10-14 days duration. If now you request a visa to visit Porugal from 1st June 2025 -15th June 2025. And in March you receive a biometric appointment from Aima for 20th June. Then game over!
95% of investors are having this difficulty and someone like you can conclude that it is win-win situation.
It may depend how long ago your Bios were. If they were a year+ ago and the latest criminal record AIMA has for you is also over a year old⊠well a lot can happen in a year
Suggest ask your lawyer, and better yet get them to ask AIMA specifically during one of the info sessions AIMA is holding - like this one today:
@live2learn and @anon45457555 under the old process (deeply affected by delays), you would have to have prepared an updated set of documents for your biometrics appointment. Under the new process, you must also prepare a refreshed set of documents, albeit these have to be uploaded before the biometric appointment can be issued. In both scenarios, you must prepare a refreshed set of documents - there is no skipping of the step of preparing a refreshed set of documents under the old or new process.
There has been a suggestion by some that âAIMA should have just pre-approved with the old docsâ - well, think of this new process that has effectively eliminated that step. Your next step is the biometrics appointment if you have been waiting for that pre-approval.
With regards to Schengen visa appointments, the demand for visa appointments has been far outstripping supply since 2021 (about the time you would have applied for your GV). Iâm sure you baked this factor into your GV application - that you would have to procure visa appointments for your biometrics appointments, and visa validity is random. All visitors who need a visa to the Schengen area face this treatment by EU countries.
Whether you see the revised process as a positive or negative one, the new process is here to stay. Applicants (who havenât submitted their biometrics) have a way forward - and for those who cannot or are fed up with endless waits have the option of aborting their application and cutting their losses.
In your shoes, this is what I would do - start procuring the required documents you need, and complete the legalisation steps. Courier your original documents to your lawyer, who will certify them, and upload them to the portal. Wait for your biometrics appointment(s). Once you have the appointment, regularly hit the VFS/TFS/3rd partyâs website for Schengen visa appointments. Itâs not as impossible as youâre making it out to be - there are frequent cancellations, and VFS/TFS release these appointments back onto the system (Iâm telling you this from personal experience). Take the first appointment you can find, and you can change this appointment if you find an earlier or later one to match your biometrics date. Do your research on when the 3rd party visa provider drops appointments into the system each day, and sit in front of your computer monitoring their website for new slots.
As I see it, your options are to either comply with the new AIMA procedure or abandon your GV process!
Not exactlyâŠin most cases visa processing is now outsourced. You go to the correct visa processing center in your jurisdiction for the Schengen country you want to apply a visa for, and apply for the visa in-person with your documents there. The 3rd party forwards the application to the embassy.
You canât go to the PT embassy because they donât have a public facing consular section. You will be turned away.
Hi - our GV advisor attended today, as did I (they seemed to accept join requests from anyone, which was both good and bad - lots of random complaining with 500 people on the call!)
Iâm sure someone else will post a full summary, but on the only question I cared about - what about those of us whoâve already done Biometrics? - our advisor heard:
âthey confirmed in those cases the documentation is being reviewed, no need to resubmitâ
Hi everyone. My wife has finally been scheduled for biometrics (Dec 2021 applicant). Understand we now have to pay the Euro 6K fee at the time of biometrics. Does anyone know if they accept an international credit/debit card for payment? Thanks!
Once again it proves to me that you do not come from a country that needs Schengen Visa to enter Portugal. Pls do some research about VFS/TFS before giving advice about Schengen Visa procedure. It is quite bizarre for someone that never ever experienced it and now lecturing about it.
Big window (Jan- April) means nothing. Why? Because in best case scenario, visa is now strictly issued with 10 days -14 days validity. They did not issue visa with 90 months window as before. My dependents got visa with exact 14 days in September 2024. If the biometric falls outside the validity of the visa, then it is totally messed up.
Again, same thing happens. One can try to apply in advance and if the biometric falls out of visaâs validity, he is f@cked. If he waits for the AIMAâs biometric first, then he applies for visa. It means that he might not have enough time to apply for visa. I know GV Investors from my countries, at least more than 10 of them could not get the visa on time (AIMA sent them the biometric appointment 3 months in advance, but they still missed the biometric).
You are now talking about rules. OK! AIMA/SEF has the email and phone number to book the appointment. Why did not you/your lawyer call them to schedule your biometric earlier? If it works like it says theoretically, it is not Portugal anymore. Be realistic.
I know the process. I can read and write. I understand the process. No need to repeat what the process is about. What I was trying to say is that AIMA is playing nasty game and it is not their effort and 100% it is not a win win situation for both parties. How can it be a win win situation if the rules are regulated by one party? The other party has no voice except obey and pay money.
Iâve never ever said about skipping the step of preparing refreshed new set of docs. Re-read what I wrote pls.
Thatâs why I was saying that 95% of investors are the one who needs the visa to enter EU. The new process that AIMA proposed did not solve the same problem of getting the visa. The same problem will continue although AIMA knows clearly about it. The easy solution that let the investors choose the biometric date. In that way, once they have the visa in hand, they will never miss the biometric appointment if they can control the date.
AIMAâs initiative in my opinion is not a positive thing. They took the money but they did not follow their own rule. Now they changed rule and they will take more money without giving fair respect to the 95% of the investors. Investors make their own decision, so do we. We will see how AIMA keeps their promise with this new proposal.
I beg you not putting yourself into my shoes in order to give me advice. I already prepared docs and got card and renewed my card and got my renewed card in hand. I am fine with what I have at the moment. However, I do not want people fall into the so-called âAIMAâs effortâ and âwin-win situationâ. Things need to be clear. All cards need to be revealed on the table so that people can make a good decision. âHalf of bread is still bread, but half of the truth is no longer the truthâ.
Regarding the VFS/TFS, it is not easy as you described. It depends on the country. You are lucky to be in a country where appointments are more easily to book. In my country, it is almost impossible to book within 2 months. Refreshing the website of VFS/TFS was what I did in 2021 and I could not book it with Portugal and I had to miss my first biometric. Then I got luck to get the visa from French embassy to complete my biometric in 2022. I know many people/families from my countries could not attend biometric due to visa issue and this problem will continue under new AIMAâs process. AIMA does not care about 95% of the investors. They know the problem but simply do not care.
Options is also yours. I am here in Portugal and will be continuing observing the process and still share my opinion in this forum. Iâve learnt from others in this forum and I will always share my honest view and hardcore uncensored opinion about this Portugal Golden Visa.
I just wonder if I need to update the PCC with apostille again if AIMA started analyzing my case when the first one expired.PCC is valid for only three months and I have no idea if they can finish the backlog in 90 days.
Iâm a little confused about what I need to do and havenât gotten a clear answer from our lawyer. Iâm sure theyâre swamped with emails. Does this new process and request for documents apply for those waiting for preapproval or those who have preapproval and are waiting for biometrics?
My stage: We applied (October 2023) and are waiting for preapproval. Do they want me to submit my documents again at this stage? (Only criminal records â no birth or marriage certificates). What document do they want for a tax number? (US Social Security or Portuguese NIF)?
Anyone experiencing their application status not having changed (ours is still Candidatura Aceite/Application Accepted) inspite of having not done our biometrics yet (Dec '21 applicant, received biometric appointment invitation in '23 but never scheduled). We received the standard AIMA email in Dec but portal status is same as before.
