Still doesnt make sense, if divorced you may not apply for your spouseā¦ anyway logic doesnt work with govt. So it is what it is
Thanks Raj, Iāll look up
Thatās a great timeline - congrats!
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My understanding is that you should have your attorney with you, unless you are super fluent in Portuguese.
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I thought there was a Google doc floating around where people were updating the status of their applications, but I have no idea where that link is so here is mine
GV Applied May 16, 2021
Pre approval Aug 7, 2021
Biometric scheduled Aug 29, 2022
Timing worked out great since I can now get the FBI clearance and apostille done and sent directly to the attorney with time to spare on the FBI clearance duration
Someone else I know has the following timeline
The application was submitted on 9/21/2021,
pre-approved on 3/10/2022,
Biometric scheduled for 12/9/2022.
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Finally got word that our biometric session has been booked for the 7th Noc 2022. We are super happy! I was told that the system has started rolling again and that they have more resources assigned to get the backlog sorted.
GV Applied April, 2021
Pre approval Aug 29, 2021
Biometrics scheduled Nov 7, 2022
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Congrats Pieter!
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You are not alone. One of our fellow investors has waited for 3 years. 
Those of us who have waited for more than a year are not invited in this round. I am afraid we wonāt be invited this year, as the slots of 2022 are quickly being filled up by more recent investors from 2021.
the contact email at SEF is gricrp.cc@sef.pt (Email). They were responsive in May when I emailed them, which was a great improvement. But the reply was a standard email, not helpful in anyway. Clearly nobody read my email or tried to help. You can try again to see if there is any difference.
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Clearly there is something wrong with this SEF āchronologicalā business. I can see people pre-approved as recent as March 2022 are receiving appointments. But people pre-approved much earlier still has no contact from SEFā¦
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I am glad that it starts moving now but itās very frustrating. I applied in November 2020, got pre-approval in February 2021. But now still waiting for the email from SEF while a lot of others got pre-approval in the 2nd half of 2021 or early 2022 secured the biometric appointments.
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Does anyone get email from SEF after 24th of June or all people who got their biometric appointment received the email from SEF was at 24th of June?
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Beyond frustrating when someone / entity cannot figure out the definition or ordering of a ālineā¦ā
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Sorry to be slightly off topic for this thread, but there was a discussion earlier in the thread about re-entry into the country, when not having a Shengen. Someone was saying they had info that if you presented an SEF appointment, that would be ok to cross the border. Others said no way.
If one is already in the country, does anyone definitively know at what stage of the application process one is allowed to remain in-country, pending the outcome?
Thanks
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Ravi - can you confirm for the āsomeone elseā whose data you provide, that the dates were 21 Sept 2021 submission, pre-approval 3 Oct 2021 (you wrote 3/10/2022) and biometrics -either 12 Sept 2022 or 9 Dec 2022?? Many have interpreted the pre-approval date to mean that someone with pre-approval in 2022 has secured an appointment. In short, I am clarifying whether the date formatting (US vs elsewhere) has been misinterpreted, and whether there was a mistake for the year. Thanks.
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Itās the date format.
Sept 2021 application
March 2022 pre approval
Dec 2022 appointment
Yes, I thought it strange too. I thought the SEF wasnāt processing anything , but I guess they were.
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Yes, there clearly seems to be more than a hiccup in that system. Itās must be very frustrating having to wait so long and finding others who applied later getting appointments.
I wonder if applications just got tossed into a box or file cabinet without any real sorting, because prior to this it was a free for all wrt appointments.
Now everything is jumbled up, because they had to find the applications of those who were signed up.
Maybe your attorney can make enquiries, but it may literally be, someone has to go through every application in the box to find those that are still pending appointments
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Hi Vidur,
For the Schengen visa application, are you attaching the letter from SEF with the biometric details. My consultant has only sent me an invitation letter from the lawyer inviting me for the biometrics. He has not given me any letter from SEF. Also want to check, if SEF gives an invitation letter as the process seems to happens online.
Thanks
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Yes I had a word with the Portuguese consulate.
According to them the Appointment letter from the SEF is important, I see no reason why your lawyer would not forwarded the SEF email confirming the appointment date, time and location. You should anyway keep this document for your records.
The invitation letter from your law firm is helpful, but it is not the primary document.
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Thanks Vidur. I agree with your view. Have asked the consultant for a copy of the mail.
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I just got off a video call with my attorney and got some insight.
There are appointments available, BUT, the only people able to view this is whoever has been notified by the SEF and hence has login access.
We were discussing my my appt in Lisbon and when I mentioned I was flying into Porto, she said āletās see if there are appointments in Portoā. I nearly fell of my chair !
She shared her screen with me since she was logged into the system, lo and behold, there were appointments available on Sep on multiple dates. So IF you (or your atty has access to the system) AND your atty has been notified then there are appointment date choices in various locations. In my case there were 5 days in Sep in Porto.
The second piece of info was , AFTER the biometric appointment it many be 9-12 months before the card shows up ! This was news to me, what I had been hearing was ā¦ā a few monthsā. I guess 12 is few, just a matter of perspective.
Lastly, the clock on the 7 day visits to Portugal and 5 years does not start until the card is issued. So in my case probably wonāt start till 2023, a solid 2 years since the investment.
So, timescale and pace of things is quite different and we just need to accept that.
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