Thanks for the response, but that post above does not address my situation. That is a person who was approved and paid for her card approximately a year ago and then it took nearly a year for the card to be issued. My situation is different, I have received final approval but my lawyer has been unable to generate the DUC to allow me to pay for my card in the first instance.
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They need to reach out to the corresponding AIMA office if they have not sent the DUC details yet. It pays to have a good lawyer by your side. I understand it is difficult to know about them until there is a problem.
JP, thanks for the response and it seems like a reasonable suggestion. Did you have a similar experience with the issuance of the DUC being delayed?
Not similar but something else. I knew the associated AIMA (coimbra) was approving applications for applicants who were closer in timeline with my biometrics date, but I was not getting the approval. so I asked my lawyer to reach out and they forwarded the approval email. It looks like the process steps are all manual. So anytime someone forgets or skips the process you are in a state of limbo until your lawyer intervenes. Similar thing happened with my dependent cards where the lawyer went to the associated office to pickup my cards. Looks like there were just sitting there.
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Thanks much, this is helpful
In my case once I received final approval I paid AIMA by bank transfer, not over DUC. Our final approvals were communicated to our lawyer by email from SEF/AIMA in Oct 2023. The email from SEF contained the long IBAN number for payment by bank transfer, which I did at the time. This worked as I received my own card in Oct 2024 and incidentally have just been advised by my lawyer that the remaining family members’ cards have now also been printed.
Not sure exactly when SEF officially became AIMA, but our final approval email back in Oct 2023 was from an @sef.pt email address to our lawyer.
Curious about how where I really live and where my card says I live will impact day to day for me.
The address on the card is my lawyer’s address in Lisbon. They’ve also updated my address with Finanças to this address. So it is the address on my NIF now.
But I will be living in Porto, looking to make use of the various services residency provides. If I show a residency card with a Lisbon address, will I get hassled?
My card also shows my lawyers address, which is different from my actual address in Lisbon where I live.
I haven’t encountered any problems with this, I have rarely used the card or quoted the number to anyone.
My NIF is registered to my Lisbon address, I believe that is more relevant (my tax returns are sent to the NIF address for example).
There doesn’t appear to be a need for the two addresses to be the same ( I established the NIF before I got the card).
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Finally the residence permits for my remaining family members have been received by our lawyer, 2+ months after she received my permit as the main applicant!
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Just received family members’ cards this morning by courier from our lawyer in PT.
So it will have taken 3 years and 1 month since initial application in Oct/Nov 2021.
Final timeline is as follows:
MAIN APPLICANT
- Investment - September 2021
- Online submission of application - 26th October 2021
- Date of payment (bank transfer) - 26th October 2021
- Pre-approved - 9th March 2022
- Biometrics (Portimao) - 6th March 2023
- Final approval - 19th October 2023
- Card issued - September 2024
- Card received - October 2024
FAMILY MEMBERS (spouse & 2 kids):
- Online submission of applications - 8th November 2021 (spouse), 12th November 2021 (kids)
- Date of payment (bank transfer) - 10th (spouse) & 13th (kids) November 2021
- Pre-approved - 13th May 2022
- Biometrics (Portimao) - 6th March 2023
- Final approval - 19th October 2023
- Cards issued - November 2024
- Cards received - December 2024
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