Thanks for sharing Ravi.
9 to 12 months, to issue a card isā¦ insane. What are oneās rights during that time, regarding freedom to live in Europe etc.?
It would sound like one is in a similar position as from even before approval, where one doesnāt actually have easily understood documentation to prove status?
It is the same as before .
You enter on a visa (whatever visa that is Schengen, D7 etc), you apply for a change of visa status (the GV application).Until that application is approved, your visa status remains unchanged. Maybe they issue some kind of letter that it has been approved and then the card shows up. I donāt know.
Itās no different in the US. In the US they allow you to stick around while you are waiting for change of status approval. But if you leave the US while you are waiting for the approval and your other visa has expired, you wonāt be able to get back in.
I think Portugal is the same, except I donāt know the part about sticking around. I suppose you could. Itās not like they are asking for your visa status at the Pingo Doce. If you leave the country all bets are off.
Maybe there are forum members who have received their cards and can chime in.
Re biometric appointments I just got some clarification from my lawyer who says that -
The agenda has re-opened but only for those who submitted their application between April & September 2021. They were able to obtain close to 300 appointments. SEF notifies them and gives them a small window during which they can book appointments.
The agenda was open (ā¦ here I assume she means for booking appointments for clients who submitted April to September 2021 ā¦) up to the end of December 2021.
She says - āThis was last Friday and they still had appointmentsā (ā¦ I didnāt fully understand this bit, perhaps she means they still have available appointments for any of their clients who booked between April & September 2021 ā¦ )
She says that most likely when the time comes (ā¦. for the next round? ā¦ ) they will be notified by SEF and they will call me straight away to book an appointment according to my own agenda.
So she felt all in all it was good news.
I am surmising that maybe the next āroundā of booking will be for those who applied Oct 21 to (say) Mar 22. I guess notifications should then be sent to those who applied during this period (and I assume whoāve also been pre-approved).
So it appears from this that appointments are based on when you submitted your application, not when you were pre-approved.
I would assume that even if one had applied solo and not through a lawyer they would also be sent a notification from SEF based on their submission date. If not I donāt know if there is a way for them to contact SEF to find out.
Anyway hope this is helpful.
I think itās true that they opened the appointments based on the submission date, not the pre-approval date.
I applied in October and they opened appointments for people who applied until September, do you have any idea when will they open new appointments for people who applied after September?
I donāt know but next week I will ask my lawyer if she has any idea.
As far as I can tell from all the posts with dates, as @elle1 suggests, it seems to be going by when they submitted the applications, not by when they got pre-approved. A bunch of folks got pre-approved in Jan and even March 2022 and have been invited, but they applied in June/July 2021. The dates for biometrics seems to be releasing in the order of the submission date.
Iām now cursing myself that my application was submitted on the morning of 1st October 2021ā¦ if only Iād hustled a little more to get it in by 30th September!
Here is an interesting case. Mine was submitted at the end of September and my dependents on 1st october.
The biometrics invite was sent only for me.
Guess I have to go alone for the biometrics.
6 biometrics appointments done in Lisbon. Definitely paid off using a reputable firm. Hours of delays but with the lawyers queuing for us we just walked passed everyone when needed. Signed, fingerprints and photos. Out within a few minutes. Need to submit a couple of new docs within 20 days then we wait for the approval and cards. 
I wonder what happens if one misses the 20 days (or whatever) deadline for submitting documents only because the relevant government agency in your country has been slow to provide them?
Your lawyer can petition for an extension over and over until youāre ready.
Phew! Fantastic! Thatās great to know.
Sounds like the system isnāt all that bad, only very slow and lots of, to my mind, needless bureaucratic processes, like the constant re-issuing of birth certificates. Only makes life difficult for everyone, including themselves.
I also donāt understand why some applicants are still waiting years for biometrics.
@Ravig80111 One thing that you said could use a slight clarification. I was approved and paid my visa fee, and while I didnāt know until I got the residency card later on, the first year began counting 3 days after I paid the visa fee for the first two years. On the card, THAT is marked āDate of Issueā in English and that is the date from which the clock began running on the first year. Only when the card was actually delivered, 2 months later, did I know when the year started.
Just by chance, I was in Portugal for more than 7 days after the Date of Issuance and before the card was delivered, so that happens to count, fortunately.
Once you are asked to pay for your first 2 years, the year will begin some time shortly thereafter, but you wonāt know about it until you get the card. And of course, SEF could change this all around but all of this happened in Spring 2022, so itās pretty recent information.
Good luck with your process and be patient. Iām pretty sure it will all happen. Eventually.
Thanks for that clarification. So close to the day you hand over the money for the visa the clock begins 
Thanks everyone for sharing the latest info, extremely useful.
A technical point - can someone please confirm if SEF actually sent the biometric invite email to the GV applicants AND their lawyers? Or they sent it to the lawyers ONLY?
My lawyerā¦I donāt know that the SEF even has my email address
Notice was sent to my lawyers and me by SEF. I have access to my SEF account.
I have access to my account, but SEF has never sent me any emails - they all go to my lawyer (for the pre-approval for example).
How about those submitted before April 2021? Why they need to keep on waiting?
It seems that all those who missed their scheduled appointments (due to the pandemic and other reasons) have either been forgotten or pushed towards the back of the line.