Another step forward in restructuring of SEF - The Portugal News.
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Actually, I was checking our bank account and it looks like we paid on 26/Nov/2021. Sorry for the mistake.
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my lawyer loaded the system on October 25, 2021, and my wife and I paid the fees to SEF on 27.10.2021 (I made the full payment on 09/2021). Since my children paid on 09.12.2021, SEF did not set up an appointment for my children at their last biometry appointment.
I think SEF creates appointments according to payment dates.
Me and my children got pre-approval on February 25, 2022, my wife got pre-approved in April 2022
Please be informed of everything that your lawyer does
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Youāre right. I share the same situation as yours. Pre-approval on Jan. 19th, 2021 and no news until today. Is there a way to push or at least is there a place to send a reminder to?
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At this point, definitely should be talking with your lawyers about a lawsuit
Hereās our timeline so far:
21 Nov 2021: Main applicant application
10 Dec 2021. Spouse and dependent child application.
(We didnāt know that the applications for our family would be made on different dates. We paid all the money and fees at the same time.)
20 July 2022: Pre-approval received for all 3 of us.
22 December 2022: We received notice yesterday from our lawyers of biometric appointment scheduled in Lisbon for the main applicant ONLY (March 20, 2023).
We are glad to have one appointment scheduled but we have a couple of issues:
- We live and work in the US currently. Itās going to be hard to manage separate trips to Portugal.
- Our dependent daughter is in school and we canāt necessarily take her out of school whenever SEF tells us to show up. Iād been under the impression that we would have a range of dates to choose from for the appointment and weād hoped we could schedule something on a school holiday.
Questions: anyone else in this same position? Only one applicant scheduled? Issues with scheduling around school for kids? We are lucky to have gotten a biometric appointment at all, but we donāt know how weāre going to manage it. Iām concerned if we try to move it or cancel it, weāll end up in scheduling limbo.
Thanks for any thoughts or ideas.
āCarolyn
Thank you to you and @mrmozambique for the further data points - it does seem that SEF is indeed relying on payment dates. (Given that my spouse and dependents were Dec. 1 - or one day past the current cutoff! - it is very personally frustrating, though I know many people have gone through more frustration with SEF than this!)
@feecaro - we are in the same exact situation with our dependents. Iām going alone for my appointment, and VERY VERY much hoping that the range of next dates could work with any school holidays for both children (one in college, one in high school, so those dates donāt line up perfectly either). Iām communicating that with my lawyers, but I did the same for this batch of dates, and the day for which they scheduled me is totally random and not aligned with my preferred dates at all, so Iām not too optimistic.
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Carolyn, the ābest practiceā recommendation from this forum is to arrange your own access to the SEF portal. If it was not done from the start, then you should ask your lawyer to arrange it before all your future bookings for dependants, renewals etc.
E.g. I only have my own access to the portal, plus my lawyerās email registered there.
My lawyer was superfast and pinged me in 12 minutes after the SEFās email notification.
However by that time I had already seen SEFās email myself, gone in and booked my appts. for the convenient times/location.
Relying on the lawyer doing the choosing/booking of appts. randomly is toughā¦
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Hi Guys,
Need some advice!
Applied: Oct 2021 (Myself and parents)
Pre-Approved: Apr 2022
Appointment email received on 16th Dec
My lawyer booked for 26th Jan
Wife applied in June 2022, and is still awaiting pre-approval.
Now the issue is, I cannot get a visa on time, as visa processing times are very long. I want to change the appointment date, but as per my lawyer:
- It is not possible to check availability of other dates unless I cancel my current appointment, which comes with the risk that as soon as I cancel, my date will be taken by someone else. Is there any way to check availability without me cancelling my appointment?
- I can only change the date till the 26th Dec latest (1 Month before the appointment date), otherwise I lose the option. Can someone validate this?
I feel kind of stuck, as my lawyer also states that if I miss my appointment, it could be very tricky to get another one. Would love some advice/suggestions on what I can do here?
On a different note, as per my lawyer, it is virtually impossible to meet someone from SEF or talk to them, as they do not allow walk-ins, do not take any calls, and can only be reached by emails. And they normally donāt respond to emails at all. Find this really shocking, Is this correct?
We also wanted to see if they would allow my wife to submit fingerprints while she travels with us, even while she is awaiting pre-approval, but without access to SEF, getting confirmation on this is proving to be difficult.
Thanks
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Unfortunately, this is absolutely correct. I have been living in Lisbon already for over two months, and any/every attempt to contact SEF by any means (official telephone line, e-mail, walk-in) results in no success whatsoever.
Do try to make your appointment by all possible means. If you miss it, you might be stuck for months trying to sort your case out and, in light of the previous quote, you can imagine how āeasyā that would be.
Sorry to be a bearer of bad newsā¦ and Merry Christmas to you as well! 
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Hi Carolyn,
Same here: we were simply given a bunch of dates with no opportunity to decide whether or not those dates were convenient for us. However I was pretty clear that unless the appointments fell on a university exam date they would simply have to miss uni for a few days in order to attend. So thatās what weāre doing. Both kids will end up missing about a week from uni but thatās just too bad. I think itās a small price to pay given how difficult this whole process is.
Also, turns out our appointments are as follows:
6 Mar - Portimao - main applicant & spouse
8 Mar - Portimao - first dependent child
8 Mar - Porto - second dependent child
So on 8 Mar we have one child who needs to be in Portimao and the other who needs to be in Porto! However if it all goes to plan then I and my spouse will have finished on the 6th - luckily he was scheduled same day as me and both of us before the kids - so one of us can head to Porto with one kid while the other stays in Portimao with the second kid!
I am afraid your lawyerās guidance does not make senseā¦
At a quick glance just now, plenty of appointments still visible across all of Q1 2023, with the exception of Porto and Portimao which are fully booked (well, only one slot in Porto is still available).
A lot of free slots in Guarda still on multiple dates, etc.
I have not tested the re-scheduling as I am happy with my own slot, but the checkmark button to āre-bookā seems to show as active, so I guess just one click and youāre done. No need for any prior cancellation.
ā¦ which makes me wonder, if Iām the only one here with direct access to the portal?..
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According to my lawyer they intend to āā¦contact SEF ā¦ requesting the change of the day and place of [xxxās] appointment, so that you can all attend (together) the SEF delegation of PortimĆ£o, on 06.03.2023ā.
The request is just to make our visit more convenient so we donāt have to travel from Portimao to Porto, as our appointments currently are split between these two SEF offices.
This would suggest that there is some means by which a lawyer could make such requests directly to SEF on behalf of a client, thereby avoiding having to do it via the SEF portal calendar with the risk of losing your current appointment and not finding another. Maybe ask your lawyer if they are able to contact SEF directly, explain your situation to SEF regarding the visas and request an alternative date?
In principle I would try at all costs to attend whatever appointment youāre given, although I do realise the visa process is outside your control.
Good luck.
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I have direct access and I see multiple appointments available. I moved mine around a few times. There is a button on the right with a cross that cancels your appointment, and you can choose a new one. There is another button - on the right - that lets you reschedule, and you can see all the available slots. However, there are almost no appointments for February and none for March, as of right now.
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Those who got appointments, did you get an email confirmation from SEF for the family members? I only got such email for me (primary applicant).
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sent an invitation according to the date you paid the application fee, probably paid after 01.12.2021
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No, Tommy, I too have it, and I can see other slots. However, I am afraid to touch anything since it could lead to unintended consequences and āpermanentā delaysā¦ 
Yes, Amit, I got a separate e-mail confirmation for my ādependentā wife.
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Hi Carolyn, We are in the exact same situation. We all submitted our applications on the same day (21 Nov 2021). Pre-approved on 15 July 2022. I have my biometrics scheduled for 21 March 2023, but no news on my wife or children. One is studying Veterinary science in New Zealand, and the other, Equine science in Australia. Itās not like they can go to Portugal at the drop of a hat. Both are pretty intensive courses, and canāt just take time off. Additionally, it takes upwards of 30 hours (Portugal and New Zealand are antipodes) to travel to Lisbon from Auckland. Itās less of a problem for my spouse, but inconvenient all the same. I just hope the biometric appointments for them open during their holidays, but Iām not very optimistic.
Vishwas
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Sharing some holiday good news here as well as my appointments are now in the books for next year:
- Application Submission Date: 2021 November 23
- Pre-Approval Date: 2022 July 18
- Invitation to Schedule SEF Appointment: 2022 December 16
- SEF Appointment: 2023 March 31 (can have done anytime January - March pending availability)
For those of you applying with dependents, we received notifications for my wife and me to schedule thankfully so we can schedule a single trip for both of us.
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