Unfortunately, no luck yet.
Appoinments for Biometrics is open
This is frustratingly vague.
Did you get an appointment?
Yrs in Coimbra for 26th Jan
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Is that a renewal?
Anyone managed to get an appointment for renewal? Haven’t been successful for more than 1 year now…
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Dear all,
I had a renewal appointment scheduled for Dec 30th - a difficult date for many reasons - I was able to arrange the travel and was hoping to be back home for the New Year to be with the family; but I just hear that the renewal appointment is rescheduled for 2nd of Jan which is even trickier. Family is here, I might need to change the booking and look for last minute places to stay for New Year Eve etc
The initial appointment was secured way back in July - when it was stated that more than 1600 slots were released - however except for one other person, I haven’t heard anyone else getting a renewal appoinment so I really wonder what happened to the other 1598 slots.
Needless to say, I still have great difficulty understanding this extra difficulty of releasing slots for the overall program and the participants- if there is a program with clear set of rules I would expect them to be respected in a country of rule of law. Otherwise it becomes a headache for everyone.
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According to my lawyer, no renewal appointments at the moment. She expects those to be opened following the current batch of Jan-March, so starting end of March. Hope this is true.
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Hello , anyone knows if automatic renewal after Dec 31 has been confirmed or announced. What will happen in Jan 1st 2023?
Last time they announced it on the very last day and in the afternoon to boot!
I just spoke to my lawyers yesterday and they told me that all cards will be extended by one more year - 31st of Dec 2023 will be the new deadline. This is good and bad news as it shows the amount of back-log and the amount of time required to clean it but the glass is half full as this time for existing cards will count towards the 5 year time.
By the time I spoke the decree was not out but it should be coming out anytime, perhaps it is already out there…
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BlockquoteFollowing that date, the title will remain valid, contingent on the booking of a renewal appointment.
This seems meaningless because the whole issue is impossibility to secure appointment for renewal
I think this clause was always there. I understand the current in-force ‘Despacho 12870-C/2021’ provided unconditional extension to 30 April 2022, and only conditional thereafter.
Guess we’ll see the new dates once the refreshed ‘Despacho’ is published.
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The alterations to the law to extend the validity of residence visas that have expired is published and in force from 31-Dec-2022 : https://dre.pt/dre/detalhe/decreto-lei/90-2022-205493447.
Article 2 (Artigo 2):
No 8: "Os documentos e vistos relativos à permanência em território nacional, cuja validade expire a partir da data de entrada em vigor do presente decreto-lei ou nos 15 dias imediatamente anteriores, são aceites, nos mesmos termos, até 31 de dezembro de 2023.
No 9. Os documentos referidos no número anterior continuam a ser aceites, nos mesmos termos, após 31 de dezembro de 2023, desde que o seu titular faça prova de que já procedeu ao agendamento da respetiva renovação
(8)The documents and visas relative to residence in national territory, whose validity expires will be accepted from the date of entry into force of this decree-law … until 31 December 2023.
(9)The documents referred to under 8 …will continue to be accepted, on the same terms, after December 31, 2023, provided that the holder proves that the person has already scheduled its renewal.
There are apparently some 200 thousand persons with expired Portuguese residence visas. One reason for a recent protest against SEF in front of Parliament, by those frustrated by SEF’s handling of residence visa renewals.
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Its called learning from experience. It started one quarter at time, went to 6 mos, now one year. Next stop 2025.
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What is the implication of the extension of the expired residency card to December 31, 2023.
- Does it have any negative impact on the counting of the 5 year period required for citizenship.
- Can a person holding the expired residency card enter a Schengen country, like Germany, from a third world country without a Schengen Visa.
- It may be better if the SEF issues the initial residency card for a longer period of time, say three years.
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For those of us living here, it keeps us in status, otherwise we’d have exceeded the allowable time. It doesn’t really have much of an impact on people who aren’t living here if you haven’t used up your 180 schengen days. Hopefully no negative impact overall! We had expired cards for 6 months in 2021 and it’s still not clear what the impact will be on the 5 year count. They’re only doing this because they’re so backed up, so extending the time only extends the back up. They need to focus on a serious catch-up effort at SEF!
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Main impact from certain perspective is the Schengen visa. Even Portuguese embassy when applying through them for a Schengen visa treats the application like a normal application. We applied and only got 6 months so we have to apply again in May. Also still you have to do first entry to Portugal which limits the Schengen flexibility available through the GV scheme as initially advertised. Further airlines like BA or Ryan air will not allow to board without a visa.
SEF should either allow quick visa application based on this or make sure this applies to all Schengen countries and also inform airlines. Appreciate any experience and feedback that can make EU and travel to Portugal easy .
Thanks
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