I donāt doubt that cancelled appointments are hard to come by. I think that the lawyers probably have to check the system several times a day if they really want to catch one (kinda like trying to book an interview appointment for Global Entry!) We are just planning to travel there and staying for couple of months anyway. Weāll do our background checks before we go just in case we are lucky 
ouch, 13 hours, yeah thatās def less practical. Itās a shade over 6 out of JFK and all the flights are red-eyes so weād basically just be there the next morning. The long tail for us would be coordinating a cat sitter. Easy to forget that the world does not revolve around JFK. 
You would also have to get a COVID test with a <24 hr turnaround. So if the appt shows up for Wed, youād have to get a test Mon, hop on a flight Tue and be there Wed to squeak in under the 72 hours
So youāre going to have to gamble on getting the apostille back in time for your trip , since it is a physical document unless you have that sent out to the atty. I am just going to watch all of you and learn
@jb4422 hehe. We have actually never been to JFK! If we are unlucky, and can only find a flight with 4 hour layover in JFK or CDG, it would turn into a 16 hour flight.
@Ravig80111 I plan on using Monument Visa again for this and have them mail the apostilles to our lawyer directly.
Are you sure about this 6 months expiry date for the marriage certificate?
One lawyer I consulted told me about the 6 months, but then 2 others told me there was no validityā¦
I see a lot of people mentioning the āinterviewā.
Considering we have all documents ready, valid, etc, is there anything else to be worried about during this SEF appointment āinterviewā? I mean, is there anything subjective or its just a checklist exercise where you hand over documents and get prints and photo taken?
Considering the need to invest in advance, it would be a big risk to think things can be refused due to something outside of our control.
This would appear pretty much to be why you hire the lawyer, to ensure that anything that might be subjective is smoothed over beforehand and thereās a friendly Portuguese face to ensure no annoyances.
I think this is a good approach, and nice way to spend some time in Portugal and also HOPEFULLY grab a close-in SEF appointment.
Based on this flurry of recent comments, I also checked with our attorney on biometric scheduling. She confirmed what is being reported by manyā¦ the scheduling calendar opened up a few months ago with limited availability. It has been closed since then, except for last minute cancellations.
I am sure about marriage certificate having 6 month validity in the eye of SEF. Our lawyers told us that we would have to get the FBI background checks and marriage certificate reissued, apostilled and translated for the biometrics appointment. (Our marriage certificate was issued last November. ). Iām not sure why the 6 month validity since in the US, people can get divorced and the marriage certificates remain unchanged.
Does it at all matter where in Portual the SEF office is located?
I see the lawyer of being there to ensure things are done properly, as someone that understands the rules of the game and can make the process run smoothly, so I dont need to worry much about it.
I can speak portuguese, therefore I was not considering taking the lawyer to the interview. By doing so I will avoid some extra costs, especially if its outside Lisbon.
But surely, if there is a subjective part to the interview (which my lawyer told me there is not), then it will be important to have him there.
My understanding is that there are multiple SEF offices throughout Portugal that can handle the biometric interview. Someone mentioned having their interview in the Azores.
My understanding is that while there are rules, and itās not substantially subjective, if the SEF agent really doesnāt like you or has a really bad day and you donāt have all your iās and tās right, you could potentially have issues. I could be wrong, of course, but I cannot help but think that any person deciding whether or not you get a visa in any country is always going to have a certain amount of discretion as to whether or not they want to let This Particular Person in. If youāre an AmCit, think about the experience of a refugee facing a CBP officialā¦
Maybe the question you should ask yourself is not whether or not you can speak Portuguese, but whether you speak āSEF Agentā - a regional dialect of āPortuguese bureaucracy-speakā which probably has far more in common with āCosta Rica bureaucracy-speakā than Portuguese - well enough to bet all your fees and efforts on it, versus the EUR700 that the lawyer wants to stand there with you for a couple hours.
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Now that might get in the way of flying over for last minute cancellations. 
Unless youāre going to head down to the VistaPrint for new prints and pony up the $170 to Monument Visa every three months Ugh.
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My lawyer confirms that a refreshed background check may be required, but that the requirements are not well defined or consistently applied. In other words, it is the luck of the draw. She advised me to get another background check going. I made a long drive today to get another round of fingerprints, and priority mailed them to the FBI. There was no real benefit in going for express mail because of the holiday.
I booked a flight for August and hope to grab a last-minute appointment. Thereās no way I will have the apostille back in time, so Iām hoping that a sealed copy of the refreshed background check plus the expired apostille, etc. will be enough of a good faith effort to secure a measure of mercy.
From now on, I plan to order rolling background checks every several weeks, so that Iāll always have a current and apostilled copy on hand. I am hoping that this strategy will minimize the need for expediting and FedEx fees, at least.
Adding slight insult to injury, the FBI refuses to accept a duplicate copy of any fingerprint card that they have already received, so I will have to keep trekking 1/4 of the way across the state to get fresh fingerprints.
Thats a fair point, thanks.
Its better to play on the safe side for sure. I will have another call with my lawyer today, I will update here if anything out of what we are discussing here comes up.
That makes sense. At the end the lawyers are advising what has been working for them.
For sure having everything new and re-issued is the safest bet, especially if you are coming from overseas just for the appointment.
Im surprised to see how hard it is to get the criminal records in the US. Back home you can do it online in under 5 minā¦
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Itās not that itās hard per se, other than the fingerprint, itās the apostille that .pt is requiring. .which isnāt hard either but requires someone in DC to do something, and someone getting the someone in DC to do something.
Ugh. More SEF issues.
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