i am wondering as well ā¦ anyone actually got invited afterwardsā¦
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Not sure where 90 days come from. Law says 60 days (see my post in related topic here Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4) - #182 by aabukh)
I had bio in Porto on Oct 26 and now waiting.
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Iām also confused, donāt worry. Iāll be pressing them to explain
But this is exactly what they said
SEF has 90 working days after the appointment to review the original document delivered and notify us of the decision
The explanation is that the law says they have 90 days to make up their mind, but SEF never complies with the 90 day deadline and it has no practical effect. Presumably you could sue SEF after the 90 day deadline if you wanted, but that doesnāt seem likely to be productive! The experience of everyone here is that you wait a while, between 6 and 12 months, and thatās just it.
Practically yes, this is what Iām planning for based on the posts here. Hence my question on how the Porto sef biometrics office does
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Woohoo Biometrics booked.
Application submitted/paid Nov 4 2021
Pre-approval April 2021
Biometrics March 2nd 2023
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Myself and spouse required renewed apostillized and translated FBI background check and re-issued marriage certificate (stamped within 6 months of your appt), also apostillized and translated, our passports, and the āno tax dueā statement from the Portuguese tax authorities.
If your attorney applied for your NIF, they will (should) have access to the site and can get this statement. If you applied on your own for your NIF, you will need to supply your log on info so attorneys can get this statement.
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For those who received the 16th December email to book appointments - have you all been given a 10 day window in which to book? I only just realised appointments were re-opened on this forum and annoyingly I havenāt yet been contacted by my lawyer. I just sent her a text and will ring in the morning. Hope sheās not already off on Christmas leave. What would be the situation if you or lawyer failed to book during the 10-day window? Is that it? We were pre-approved March/May 2022 - applied Oct/Nov 21- so hopefully our lawyer received the email for us and has booked something.
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Yes, it said āthe scheduling shall be made between 16-12-2022 and 26-12-2022ā.
Hope you can still get something booked as the whole of Q1 2023 was open as far as I could see.
I was in the same boat, but when I wrote to my lawyers, I found out that they had booked my appointment and just failed to notify me (they forwarded the email to me, and it was ccāed to a number of people, but I was left out, probably because the SEF/ARI login that the law firm created for me is very similar to my actual email address). Hopefully you are in the same boat!
Also, to add to the data:
Main applicant (me):
11/24/21 Submitted
11/26/21 Paid
7/29/22 Pre-approval
12/19/22 Biometric appointment made (for 2/2023)
Spouse and children:
11/29/21 Submitted
12/1/21 Paid
8/12/22 and 8/23/22 Spouse and Children Pre-approval (respectively)
No biometric appointments available for my spouse and kids yet, apparently. Looking at the dates in this thread, I donāt see anyone from Dec. 1 submission who has been able to schedule the biometrics. I wonder if that is the cutoff so far? Itās a bit frustrating that we were so close otherwise, but glad to get mine done anyway!
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My lawyers also missed to inform me when they received the email. I wrote to them and called them on the following Monday, and they confirmed my appointment was already booked for 31 Jan 2023 at Lisbon.
I couldnāt have been more thankful. The mails were sent on 16 Dec with a 10-day window to book the appointments for Q1 of 2023. Please reach out to your lawyers and ask them, if this is missed then you can get stuck in a black hole like many others.
Wish you all the very best!
Thank you guys for all the replies. I am sitting here waiting anxiously for 9am when Iāll ring her up and see where things are with our appointments. I will keep you posted! Fingers crossed! Congrats to everyone who secured their appointments. I hope it wonāt be too long to wait for the residence permits to be issued following the appointments and for the 5 year clock to begin.
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Just spoke to my lawyer - we have appointments booked for March - three of us in Portimao and one in Porto the day after. However she said they would put in a request for all four of us to be dealt with in Portimao on the first day but if that doesnāt happen then we will have to go to the fourth appointment in Porto the next day. I am so relieved. Trekking to Porto on the next day is the least of it - just so happy to have appointments booked. She will send me an email later today with details, dates etc and the dreaded list of documents!
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Sharing good news.
- Submitted application 29/Nov/2021
- Pre-approval 8/Aug/2022
- Received biometric invitation e-mail 16/Dec/2022
- Biometric scheduled for 16/Jan/2022
I updated the Google doc survey.
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Iām also a 14th December 2021 applicant. No contact from SEF at all yet
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Ok here is my applications timeline thus far:
Applications submitted (payment date) / pre-approvals received:
Main applicant - 26 Oct 21 / 8 Mar 22 (4+ months wait)
Family members - 10 Nov 21 (spouse) & 13 Nov 21 (dependent children) / 13 May 22 (6 months wait)
Biometric appointments:
6 Mar - Portimao - main applicant & spouse
8 Mar - Portimao - first dependent child
8 Mar - Porto - second dependent child
So it will have been 16+ months from the main applicantās application to biometric appointments for the whole family!
Have to admit I had started seriously thinking about abandoning the whole process, but whatās there to lose at this stage having already made the investment and submitted all the paperwork. Probably the most difficult part of the process is now behind us and it is now just a long waiting game.
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Did you pay on 29/Nov or 30/Nov as well, or just submit the application that day? Iām trying to figure out why my family hasnāt received biometric invitations, and want to make sure my lawyers didnāt miss anything! Thanks for any help.
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Congratulations, we have the same date of application, but timelines are different:
- Submitted application 29/Nov/2021
- Pre-approval 11/Aug/2022
- Received biometric invitation e-mail 16/Dec/2022
- Biometric scheduled for 31/Jan/2023 in Lisbon
All the best!
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