My lawyer said to me this morning that getting a āfamilyā appointment is sensible but almost never happens. And if they ask for one, they never get a reply. So Iād take what you haveā¦
The main applicant appointment takes longest anyway. My bit this morning was about 5 minutes, but the lawyer was in there for about 35 before that
Hmm, Iām a bit scared now. My lawyer never asked for my birth certificate, let alone an apostilled version of it! I have my SEF appointment tomorrowā¦ I really hope my lawyer didnāt mess up on the required documents! The only documents I have are: (1) passport, (2) criminal record (apostilled), (3) tax id (not apostilled, lawyer just translated and certified), (4) bank statements and investment documents, (5) NIF, and (6) proof of address using my lease agreement. The only document apostilled in that entire list is the criminal record. There is no birth certificate in that list!
Edit: I went to this link from SEF ARI that gives a list of required documents: https://imigrante.sef.pt/wp-content/uploads/ARI_alinea7_Pedido_PT.pdf and I used google translate on it. Thankfully, it does NOT mention birth certificate as a required document. Perhaps my lawyer didnāt mess up! Fingerās crossed tomorrow goes well!
No need to panic. If they require and you do not have it, they will give you some day to get it apostilled. My criminal record was expired at the time of appointment, and they gave me 30 days to provide an apostilled one.
The birth certificate is only required if you are bringing your parents in as your dependents. This is to prove that they are your parents.
Looks like SEF itself is taking the (wrong IMO) interpretation of the extension being limited to those whose permits expired in the 15 days just prior to Dec 30 2022 
What date did you submit your application, if you donāt mind me asking?
Our submission date was around Dec 3rd 2021
Hi everyone,
Have been following this thread for a long time but this is my first post here. Want to check if anyone else is in the same situation as I am in and if there is a solution for this.
Pre Approved - Feb 2021
First Biometric date - Feb 2022 (Could not travel due to restrictions/delay in processing of Schengen visa)
No updates since and have been told that we are in a situation where the applicant has been called already and SEF has not updated when they will take cases like ours.
All suggestions welcome and hope we get called soon 
You should be talking with your lawyer about a lawsuit
@minimaxr Because of the previous extensions of validity, all of the previously expired cards etc. were shifted to expire at the end of 2022. This covers all of them, because their validity lasted to December 30.
My lawyer also reads this: āa partir de 30 de dezembroā to include those whose cards expire between now and the end of 2023. So this could be quite sweeping, rather than limited.
The bad news of her reading was that she guessed they gave until the end of 2023 in order to put off solving the renewal problem until after the re-org was complete, which means at least more delay. The worst case, obviously, is if the re-org gets put off even more or gets reconsidered.
Skip
You are not alone. There are at least 2 persons here with pre-approval in 2020, without a SEF appointment: Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3) - #1119 by mohammadreza and Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3) - #672 by vivekthakur.
I have a great deal of compassion for them and you. I havenāt seen any solutions, unfortunatelyā¦
Aha, yes, that makes sense, thanks! I keep anchoring on the expiry date printed on the card, but yes, given that they have been extended by previous law to Dec 30 2022, they should be covered by this extension as well. I still dread having to explain this to any official who doesnāt already know this.
Hi, I am new, also my first post here. We were pre-approved Jan. 2021, biometric appointment Feb. 2022. Until today - no news from SEF, they havenāt asked to pay the fees for the cards, nothing. Lawyers know nothing either. Has anyone waited that long (as of today, 11 months) after the biometrics? The documents should all be ok, we submitted the whole set (investor+child) - had to re-do all docs, so that they were current as of Feb. 2022. Thanks for any advice!
The wait time significantly depends on from where you applied - for Lisbon 11 months might be what is expected, for other places it is different. There is a spreadsheet created for this purpose which displays individual cases for different SEF offices. Lisbon has almost always been the slowest, Porto being somewhat better, the ones in extreme south being the fastestā¦ However even the fastest ones take some time (4-6 months)
I had my biometrics on the 11th Jan (which was quick and painless). My solicitors remarked that SEF have put on additional people at the Lisbon office and cards are now being issued in 5-6 months there.
For what itās worth, and we shall seeā¦
Thank you! Yes, we applied in Lisbon. 11 months so far and no response as to when we can expect the cards.
A friend of mine was invited for biometric appointment in Lisbon on Jan 29th, 2022, and still has not received his card. āNothingā to worry about - it is normal for SEF.
Many thanks indeed for your answer. While I am certainly not happy about your friendās experience, at least itās good to know weāre not the only ones.
I suggest you speak with your lawyer and ask them to submit a request to SEF for immediate decision and issuing of the cards as the deadline of 90days already passed for you long time ago.
I am not promising this will be successful as I have not seen any reports to that effect on this forum, but equally I have not seen anybody testing this approach either.
