Hello @Onward I am indeed based in Singapore, but Iām not looking to swap a Singapore driverās license (I donāt have one) for a Portuguese one.
To be more precise, while I have my GV residence permit, Iām not moving to Portugal anytime soon. Iām just wondering if I can get a Portuguese drivers license on the basis of the GV without actually living there. Same for any other resident benefits (healthcare etc).
Would love to get clarity on this.
Of course you can obtain the Portuguese driving licence as any other PT resident.
For which you have two options as explained earlier:
This is what they have responded, " Your mail deserves our best attention, itās a technical issue and your request have been forwarded to the relevant department for resolutionāā¦ I am patiently waiting at this point of time.
PT driverās license and healthcare benefits are unrelated. If you want a PT license without any tests, thereās no other way other than depositing with the IMT (Never surrendering), you can collect that one anytime you want it back by returning the PT license.
Second case, It takes around 6 months to obtain the PT license from scratch through a driving school and the written test shall be in Portuguese only and you need to hire a translator during the test if your language skills arenāt adequate. So, you can weigh-in your desire v/s practicality for a Driverās permit.
That raises question of timing to spend the 14 days ā before online renewals, some of us might have planned to do our ā14 daysā as part of the trip to do our renewals in person at an SEF office ā that is, you get the appointment and then come 2 weeks early and stay; or spend 2 weeks after. Of course, for those who want to keep it as few trips as possible.
I guess now (if online renewals continue to be the norm) we should not plan anything until we get renewed cards in hand (or at least we paid the money online) and travel after that new date on the card.
Seems obvious but wonder if anyone has other thoughts?
I replied strictly to the question of whether one could ignore the rule to spend 7 days in Year 1 of the GV and 7 days for Year 2, which is still part of legislation, by suggesting a workaround of 7 days at the end of Year1 and 7 days at the onset of Year2. The rule was inherited from a time when the first visa was for 1 year, and all subsequent renewals were 2 years, and unfortunately not been modified (ie since Covid, visas have changed to 2 year GV visas from the initial visa onward).
For online renewals, my understanding is that as long as the renewal is applied for within the last 3 months of the GV card, the dates of the new card follow on from the expiry date of the previous card. I cannot verify this, as I am nowhere near that stage yet. 
So hopefully somebody who has successfully renewed, automatically - eg @minimaxr can confirm. If card dates are continous with the automated renewal procedure then one should be able to make the trip during the validity of the 2nd GV card. Seems simple, and obvious, as it should be, avoiding the interminable wait for the 2nd SEF appt. and card.
Yeah I didnāt mean to put you on the spot: just that your well-written text I quoted is along the topic of the ā14-dayā : >
Some folks on the āOnline Renewalā thread seem to indicate that the dates of the new card is based on the payment date, not continuous from the previous card.
So an example is:
Anyway, even if the answer is āYESā I personally might just not plan for anything for those four months in this example, until the payment is requested; to be on the safe side.
I agree. It may not be wise to travel to meet the āstayā conditions during the periods between validity of the cards ie between 6/30/2023 and 11/1/2023, unless there is no other alternative (eg school holiday). Always difficult (if not impossible) to predict the mindset of the bureaucrat!
The card dates are not continuous with the previous card, when using online renewal at least. I can confirm that for both cases (cards which expired > 90 days before renewal application and those which expired within 90 days) the renewed card has starting date as the date of approval (typically a few days after online renewal form submission), so there is a gap between the old and new cards.
this is awful! but i would not otherwise known this dark history, I been living in and out of portugal since 2017 and my first GV in late 2018, but everytime i passes the SEF checkpoint in faro, they are very nice people, (that is if you overlook their efficiency)
even in the height of a drug operation in 2019?, where everyone landed in Faro is due for extensive questioning and searches, they are very nice to us and even allowed us to jump queue as we have kids with us. and when the kids are searched one of the sef officer gaved our kids chocolates
Hi. I am having problems logging in to the SEF site using my ARI email and password (says PW doesnāt match). Are you saying that it is possible to register again in the SEF site using a different email and then pull up my previous information to check whether I qualify for an online extension? I am afraid to take that step because I fear that it might create a mix up. Thank you for your advice.
Are you trying to log in to the online renewals site with your ari.sef.pt password? If so, that wonāt work. See @minimaxrās excellent guide:
You can use the same email there as on the ARI portal, but itās not necessary. But youāre creating a new account, not logging in with your ARI credentials.
See the full guide here:
EDIT: Seeing in the other thread that your expiration date is Jan 2024, you cannot use the online renewals system yet anyway. Either way, when/if they open up for cards expiring in Q1 2024 youāll need to create a new SEF account, not use the ARI account.
Sorry for the confusion. My official GV approval date is Jan. 5, 2018 and because my goal is to apply for citizenship, I try to fulfill my Year 1, Years 2-3, and Years 4-5 stay requirements based on that date. My residency card (which is running on a completely different time scheme) expired on Feb. 7, 2022 and was extended until Dec. 31, 2023 by legal decree. In my mind, I was thinking that I needed to renew it before Jan. 5, 2024, which is my mistake. Sorry.
BTW, I was able to apply successfully online for renewal last week. Thank you for your advice!
Hello everyone, my ARI will expire on the 10th of October 2023 would anyone be able to tell me if the Automatic Renewal process has opened yet, or if it will open anytime soon.
As of now, I still get the āyour residence card does not allow you to perform automatic renewalā message.
Thank you.
In Jan 2023, automatic renewal was opened for cards due to expire in the 1st quarter. In April, renewal opened for those with cards expiring until end June, and in July 2023 for those expiring until end Sept.
Since they opened in April for the 2nd quarter, and July for the 3rd quarter, seems likely they will open in Oct for the last quarter. I havent seen any notifications for openings so farā¦
As of now the cards expiring in Q3 (July, Aug and Sep) are eligible for the Automatic renewals. Q3 Auto-Renewals were enabled on 20th of July and we are not sure what are their plans for the Q4 yet. All we can do is to wait and see, there is no guarantee that the cards expiring in Q4 shall be eligible for an automatic renewal but the probability is on a higher end of the spectrum. To be prepared for the worst case scenario is something advised, if they do bring back the biometrics system we have to rely on the lawyers to schedule the appointments along with the police certificate (Only if you are not a full-time resident in Portugal).
for people
were you asked for a refresh on your FBI background check + apostille when they got to your application?
Thanks in advance 
I am not in the US, but just to share that I was not asked for any refresh since my biometric appt.
No news for ARIās that expire in October, mine expires this month and SEF wonāt answer my calls.
So annoying!
If online renewal is available supposedly your new card is valid from the approval date. In which case when is the optimal time to apply for automatic renewal? Renewing before your card expires seems like it wastes validity time because you might just end up with two cards valid at the same time.
But several SEF sources say:
- O pedido de renovaĆ§Ć£o da autorizaĆ§Ć£o de residĆŖncia pode ser solicitado pelo interessado entre os 90 e os 30 dias anteriores Ć caducidade do tĆtulo
I.e.
- The application for renewing the residence permit may be submitted by the person concerned between 90 and 30 days previous to the expiry of the title
Does that mean renewing less than 30 days in advance is risky?