Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3)

As far as I can tell, no one who missed an appointment has ever been invited again since the change to chronological invitations. This includes folks who missed appointments way back in 2020 due to covid. Seems like once you go in that box, you never come out.

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Absolutely do not miss your biometrics appointment. Do whatever you have to to get there. Getting lost in the Portuguese bureaucracy is the worst fate

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Hello, itā€™s me again. The person applied in November 2020 and received pre-approval in February 2021. I never receive an invitation. I am sad that I, once again, havenā€™t received an invitation to complete the biometric process in this round. I suspect that my case was lost in the bureaucracy. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Iā€™m sorry to hear your case was overlooked again. From what I gathered in this forum, I would agree that your case is lost. Probably lost after being distributed to an individual SEF worker, this person might have forgotten your case and without a reminder, this person might never go back and pick it up. Have you tried to file a lawsuit?

No, itā€™s not only you, me too. I submitted in October 2020 and pre-approved in Jan. 2021

I heard that more than you and me who submitted and got approved around that timing were pending bio-metric data gathering.

The only thing that we can do is to write emails to SEF. But I guess with the restructuring, people wonā€™t have any motivation clearing backlogs.

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If I miss my biometrics Iā€™d be filing a lawsuit the next day. Thereā€™s no other way to get them to follow their own rules

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Thanks for recounting your experience. When did you apply for your dependants?

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Just got some bad news from my lawyers regarding GV residency holders:

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Please be assured that we are working closely with our legal team and their interpretation of last weekā€™s announcement, and analysis of the PowerPoint document that was issued by the Government, is as follows:

ā€¢ The Golden Visa regime will be terminated in its current form

ā€¢ This termination applies to all past, present, and future visa applications

ā€¢ This termination means that:

(i) pending applications will be reviewed, and then either refused or granted under the normal residence permit regime for immigrant entrepreneurs (D2 Visa)

(ii) a Golden Visa bearer when renewing their visa will have to comply with precisely the same requirements as an entrepreneur immigrant

As it stands, the D2 visa requires applicants to live in Portugal for more than 6 consecutive months per year. The understanding of the law firms is that all Golden Visa applications will be transferred to D2, and this would mean that holders would need to comply with the D2 requirements including the residency requirement. This is the current interpretation in the absence of any further information. At this stage, the governmentā€™s intention appears to be to effectively terminate the program by subjecting past, present, and future applications to markedly stricter regulations, particularly in terms of the requirements for permanence (physical presence) in the country. However, it is important to stress again that we have not yet seen the actual wording of the proposed law, and we cannot confirm whether it will be implemented, as it still needs to be vetted by the President.

That is the general understanding of whatā€™s proposed, yes. There also appears to be a consensus among constitutional lawyers that whatā€™s proposed breaches the Portuguese constitution in various ways, and a level of scepticism that the proposals will survive legal challenge. And thereā€™s a lot of thinking in the Portuguese legal/professional community about how to influence public perceptions of GVs and the proposed changes.

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I agree. But if the govt goes ahead with this proposal, then all GV applicants should unite and fight it legally. Such laws canā€™t be implemented retroactively.

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So that means a large percentage of 11k GV applicants/holders AND their dependents will be required to get some form of (non hotel) housing to meet the 6 months requirement. How is that improving competition/availability for housingā€¦?

Itā€™s just half baked fruitiness for the sake of cheap political points scoringā€¦

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We really need one thread for this discussionā€¦

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Yep, THIS is the message that needs to get out asap. The Portuguese are being sold a lie.

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I suggest this thread is the one to use please: https://community.nomadgate.com/t/the-end-of-portugals-golden-visa-for-real-this-time/56070/670

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No. Remember that over 90% of the visas on record involve people having bought real estate. So itā€™s not adding very many people buying houses. And then, how many will actually do it, versus just bailing out entirely?

Iā€™m sure the hope here is that most of those people owning houses will give up and sell, flushing a bunch more houses on the market. Maybe most Portuguese will not be able to afford them, but some will, and of course all the forced sales will lower prices.

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You miss the point. It doesnā€™t matter if itā€™s only 1 additional GV holder buying a house. Itā€™s not creating ā€œmore housing ā€œ but less . The premise of the law is a lie.

In any event itā€™s probably best to try to stay on track thinking of constructive ways to help but not accidentally undermining the narrative .

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This is a very misleading statistic because it includes commercial real estate. I am part of that 90% statistic, but I only own a fraction of a Mercan hotel building. You canā€™t live in a fraction of a hotel! If Portugal forced me to move there, I would have to buy/rent something and it would absolutely use up their scarce housing.

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The truth about this law will get to the people eventually.

SORRY TO BREAK IN TO YOUR RIVETING DEBATE BUTā€¦

THIS IS AN URGENT MESSSAGE REQUIRING YOUR ATTENTION AND ACTION!

Everyone who has applied or is thinking about applying for the ARI/Golden Visa program of Portugal, We urgently need your help!

The rights of immigrants to Portugal are being threatened. At this point proposed laws seek to revoke the rights of ARI (residence by investment ) applicants , but any category of immigrants could be next. Please sign this petition sponsored by PAIIR asap . If the group of Portuguese industry and legal leaders obtain 7,500 signature the group will secure the right to participate in parliamentary discussions about the bill and represent itā€™s members and us.

Please help before itā€™s too late. https://peticaopublica.com/pview.aspx?pi=PT115859. To join the petition you need you name, email and NIF or identification residence card or passport number) .

Obrigado pela ajuda.

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I agree. It also includes those who invested in renovation - which, in our case, has just started and will likely take a long time to complete. So if we were to move in, we will have to rent/buy as we wonā€™t have a place to live.

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