Actually, Rob, it IS the date of apostille that is accepted by SEF. That was the case with my FBI records that expired a month prior to my biometric appointment, but the apostille date was still compliant with the 90-day limit.
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Garrett, please see my answer above for what was required at the biometrics in Lisbon. Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3) - #1360 by PCERoman
Let’s not mix the official SEF requirements and the individual practical examples.
The official requirements never mention the validity of the apostille, but they do mention the validity of the document itself.
Of course some deviations from the official rule may be accepted at the sole discretion of the processing SEF agent. If you are lucky, that is. But I would not recommend betting on it.
@PCERoman - your list is good, but it’s missing some important property documents (namely two) which I presume your lawyer obtained and submitted (I hope) separately without telling or showing you.
That’s why I recommend referring to the official SEF sources rather than copying someone else’s list, as it is very easy to make mistakes or omit something without even knowing (and with best intentions).
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Thanks tommi. FWIW I did search, but the search here sucks
Well, I do not have enough knowledge of the “official” interpretation, but from what I was explained by my lawyer who formerly worked at SEF, the apostille date is considered to “extend” the validity of the document. Hence my comment… Your correction, however, is well warranted and should be heeded, but supposedly this issue can be argued by a competent legist in the applicant’s favour.
The issue for the U.S. applicants is that the apostille process of FBI checks can take such a long time (in excess of 10 weeks in some cases) that it is often impractical, if not impossible, to “fit” within the 90-day window from the date of report. Perhaps SEF actually realises this?
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Agreed: official SEF sources are always better… However, we went carefully over the document list with my lawyer prior to the appointment, and that was the ultimate list of required and accepted documents she submitted. Additional documents might be needed for different family situations, i.e. more dependents.
After living in Portugal for four months by now, I can certainly attest that obtaining a “complete” and even more importantly - “consistent” list or rules is a major challenge that spans far beyond the SEF “boundaries”. Try importing a car (in my case - from Spain). Try to purchase a property in a non-standard transaction (in my case - it was an assignment contract). The pitfalls are everywhere, and you will often find yourself stuck in a Kafka-esque loop chasing an illusive piece of paper for days and standing in lines of Lojas to re-submit your package. Portugal is a great country, but it is certainly far from perfect when it comes to bureaucracy. Fortunately, so far everything eventually resolved itself given sufficient patience and sometimes - extra money. 
And so, which two other documents are you referring?
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The other two property documents would be:
- Certidao de Registo Predial
- Caderneta Predial
Interesting… We presented our “Compra e Venda”, and it was sufficient…
Thank you for listing them. For those with properties, these two are actually easy to obtain on-line, hence maybe that was why they were not expressly requested.
We had our two SEF appointments today at lunch time in Lisbon. Application was November 2021 and pre-approval in June last year.
We evidently have good lawyers (CG) because our facetime with the SEF personnel was about one minute each which is the length of time it took to take our digital photo, two index finger fingerprints, and signature on the SEF terminal.
We had been asked to bring a copy of our passports (every page) with us including the new entry stamp from Sunday. Otherwise, we had already sent the lawyers a new Apostille marriage certificate (ordered online from Utah) and two legalised UK ACRO police certificates in January after the appointment was scheduled in December. Our lawyers took care of all the required documentation so we didn’t need a check list or to chase them for anything. I believe this is what we were paying them for all this time. Also, we didn’t have to make any payments to SEF today because the lawyers had already done it (of course we’ve already paid these SEF fees to the lawyers but it’s nice not to have to do or think about anything apart from turning up at the right time with our passports and copies today). We weren’t asked to bring the boarding passes but we did so give what I’ve read here and gave them to our lawyer who didn’t care about them.
It was a very straightforward process only leaving us more bewildered why the entire GV process takes so long and why it will take so long to get our hands on the residence cards now.
The only thing to note was that the important entry stamps we got on Sunday at Lisbon Airport were extremely faint and you could barely see the date on them. The copy was particularly faint. It appears this is common here but it didn’t seem to be a problem today.
The clock’s now ticking for the residence cards.
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Richard, we were there a couple of hours earlier…it must have been UK day at the Lisbon office. I had a very similar experience, and the same concern about the faint stamp!
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It looks like we are on the same timeline (minus my appointment isn’t until the 15th of next month in Lisbon) so please do keep us updated!
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Did you or your lawyer pay the fees for your card already? Most others are told that the they’ll be informed about the payment after they review the documents.
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We (our lawyer) brought copies of our passports in addition to looking at them at the appointment and the SEF agent wanted our boarding passes since we entered/were stamped in Frankfurt.
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I was watching like a hawk when the immigration officer stamped the passport. While the stamp was done with good force, the actual imprint it makes is super light 
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As I said, we didn’t personally have to pay anything today. I asked if we have to pay anything after we’d both done our biometrics and our lawyer said she’d already paid so we could go. I didn’t delve any further into the details.
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The portuguese believe in time travel.
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Fellow applicants,
My timeline:
Application of GV on 1 Nov 2020.
GV pre-approval on 3 Feb 2021.
And no invitation to do biometrics so far from SEF in the past two years. TWO WHOLE YEARS!
Making matter worse, my lawyer is very unresponsive. I also do not have my own access to log in to SEF website to check the status. I am considering switching the lawyer firm and thus would like any recommendations. I understand that switching the lawyer firm would not lead to any guaranteed result. But I just want a lawyer firm which would keep us updated, answer my infrequent inquiries, and allow me to have access to log in to SEF ( to give me peace of mind).
Thanks in advance!
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I have previously recommended Catarina Garrett at AGPC investments - they are generally responsive but lately have been less so. I would still say they are good, but perhaps not the great lawyer you need to really fight for that biometrics appointment
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You are certainly not alone. I m thinking: should I pay another Portugal lawyer to fix a biometric appointment for my family, taking the whole matter to a higher level of absurdity.
Golden visa applicants taking SEF to court - The Portugal News.
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