Well, I just showed my original to my lawyer, she took a copy, and sent it SEF (now AIMA). They never asked for anything else afterwards.
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I was wondering about the same thing for Canadian SINs (equivalent to the SSN in the US). The confirmation of SIN document which shows our tax ID number in Canada does not have any signature, seal or stamp. I had asked via email our Ministry of Global Affairs who processes apostille for documents issued by the federal government about obtaining apostille for such kinds of documents. I am waiting for a response.
It’s similar in the UK - you can print out a copy of your National Insurance number from the HMRC website, so there is no signature or seal on it. I used an apostille service which had an in-house solicitor. The solicitor certified the printout as a true copy of the original electronic document, and the UK government office gave it an apostille. This was accepted at biometrics stage.
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Same here, I just did the very same thing two weeks ago, together with a certified translation into Portuguese.
Our lawyers (IAS) did something similar, I think they were effectively acting as a Portuguese notary and verifying the copy was the same as the original they saw. If the copy is notarized by a Portuguese notary for use inside Portugal, there is no need for apostille, so that saves a step.
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Does the. main applicant’s appointment need to be Prior to the Family Members? Concerned because AIMA automatically provides appointments. If all applications are submitted at the same time, it’s possible the family members get appointments prior to the main applicant. I’ve asked attorneys who say they don’t know.
Anything could happen with AIMA (e.g. below), but probably not worth stressing about all the silly things they could do.
Ola a todos,
For reference my application was submitted in April 2023 and so far, have not heard a thing. My question relates to those in this situation who have submitted the initial application and not yet had pre-approval or biometrics scheduled.
Has anyone successfully submitted updated documents and received a biometrics appointment through the new AIMA digital portal?
Obrigado 
I am also curious about it and havent heard any successfull submission.
Hope someone in community submit and share experience
I heard that, there are applicants who couldnt upload documents to their profiles cause of system failure and AIMA decided to postpone random assigning appointments till solving this problem.
We received the AIMA e-mail in Dec and we were able to submit refreshed documents for the primary applicant. Once submitted the status changed to “Awaiting Analysis” with no ability to update family documents.
same here…
I guess I had experienced today new process thanks to lawsuit. We had a biometric appointment today. My son and I today also paid cards fee.
Our status has changed into transferred.
I do not know what does it mean but hopefully we will have our cards soon.
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In the old process the ‘Transferred / Transferido SIISEF’ status appeared upon receiving final approval post-biometrics.
It meant the case was transferred to the SEF IT dept. for card issuing procedures subject to the payment of the issuance DUC by applicant.
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I just had an online meeting with a notary I found on Fiverr to notarize and apostille my Social Security card that was in my possession. He prepared a document with a copy of the paper card certifying that I swore that it was a true copy and the original was in my possession. He then sent it to the state secretary of state for an apostille. He’ll send it to Portugal for me when he gets it back.
Has anyone had experience with sending new documents to IAS lawyers within the last few weeks? I’m not getting a reply and want to make sure I’m sending them addressed correctly so they get added to my AIMA file.
Congrats! Did you pay via foreign credit card or local Portuguese debit card?
At what stage do you need to send your social to them? For the bio appt?
Yes, I am eager to know this too. How did you pay? By a Portuguese bank debit card, a foreign credit card or did your lawyer pay it on your behalf?
Have any applicants who uploaded renewed documents, and saw status changed to “Awaiting Analysis” started receiving biometric appointments? From which date are new appointments expected.
AIMA had stated that people who are not able to attend the appointments they inted to issue now, would have fresh appointments scheduled post July2025.
Considering the (for AIMA) relatively short timelines, I would have expected to see new biometric appointments now starting to be issued.