Obrigada for the Parabens!
I canāt quite believe it Garrett! If I do manage to find out how this happened, I will of course update everyone after my appointment on Thursday !
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Wow that is amazing, congrats!
Thanks Ohbee 
!
I wonder if anyone can clarify a point for me, regarding documentation for my Biometrics appointment. Iām not sure if I have stumbled upon an irrelevant SEF webpage, or if there is something that needs to be supplied at the Biometrics interview to satisfy item 3?
Itās about healthcare. Google translates this as
āProof that you are covered by health protection, namely
- document certifying that you are covered by the National Health Service or
*document demonstrating that you are a holder of internationally recognised health insurance for the period of time of the legal residency or which indicates the possibility of renewal automatic payment of the respective policyā
I havenāt been asked by my lawyer to supply anything up to now, and I donāt recall reading anything about proof of healthcare on this forum.
Have I found something not relevant to my GV application, or am I missing something?
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I asked my lawyer the same question in advance of my biometrics, and she said āno need to prove any health insurance; that is just for residents of Portugalā. And I was not asked for anything at my biometrics appointment.
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Phew - thanks for the reassurance Chris!
I was worrying that I had missed out on something fundamental that would be a real stumbling block at my appointment.
Does this mean it is required for permanent residence applications, do you know?
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Please keep us in the loop on the health insurance. I have super conservative (in what to do, not politically) attorneys who have advised me to get comprehensive health insurance that is good in Portugal before my appointment. Since I have applied only a few months ago, they told me not to even bother to get it until I have the biometrics appointment. Would love to know others experience with the insurance requirement.
Hello. For the biometric appointment, is the police certificate a pre-requisite? I have an appointment on the 3rd week of May however due to the long delays in obtaining the certificate in my place of residence, I am unable to get the certificate on time for the appointment. Is there any option to reschedule or would I be outcast into the no-show bucket and hope for relief down the line? Thanks in advance for any guidance!
I was advised the same as Chris @cj807, but as you are coming from the UK you may just as well bring your GHIC card as the proof of your internationally recognized health insurance.
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My understanding is that you would still be admitted to the appointment, but a missing document will be noted on your receipt with a requirement to deliver within X days (rumour has that X=10).
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Agreed. My bonus tip is to learn the following phrase in Portuguese: āPlease could you stamp my passport really firmly? I have to show the stamp to SEF and Iām worried the ink might be too faintā¦ā 
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I donāt think it is the problem of SEF stamp. I think itās the US passport. I have Indian passport and my kids US passport. Itās clear on mine and my wife, but extremely faint in kids
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Ah. Well, UK passports must have the same paper. I had to take a photocopy of it at a hotel, and it took some serious image manipulation skills to make it even vaguely visible. In fairness, the SEF didnāt seem bothered.
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My lawyer told me this week that SEF is making biometrics appointment for applications make in October, 2021 that have been preapproved. My application was made in December, 2021, and has been preapproved. Hopefully I will get a SEF appointment soon!
Wendy
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Wendy, I am afraid your lawyer is experiencing some kind of a time lag of approximately one quarter.
The Oct 2021 applicants have all been processed (i.e. invited to bio) back in Dec 2022.
Then all the remaining pre-approved 2021 applicants up to approx. mid-Dec 2021 were invited to bio at the end of March 2023.
Now the next batch of invites in expected at the end of May 2023, which should cover all remaining pre-approved applicants up to 31 Dec 2021.
So for you it is important to know when exactly in Dec 2021 you applied/paid, and when you were pre-approved.
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Thanks for that information!
My application was made either December 16 or 19, 2021. I donāt have access to my ARI right now to check the date. So, I probably wonāt get access to an appointment until May, 2023?
Wendy
@mwwilliams10 - I had biometrics April 13, 2023 and was not required to present proof of comprehensive health insurance.
However, I was told by my attorneyās representative (who was with me in PortimĆ£o) that there was not enough time to gather the tax information, i.e. the Portuguese tax document of no debt, and that she couldnāt get an appointment until June. 
So, I have no idea what thatās about as I read (a few posts back) that it could be applied for online. Soā¦thereās thatā¦
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@wlmorris10 it is also important to know the date of your pre-approval.
If it was after 28 Mar 2023, then you should expect the invite to come in around late May. Check your email regularly (if you are registered on the SEF ARI portal) and remind your lawyer to do the same (especially if you are NOT registered yourself on the SEF ARI portal)
OR
if it was BEFORE 28 Mar 2023, then I am afraid you may have received the invite on that date but missed it (and/or your lawyer missed it).
@heidieckard There are two kinds of āno-debtā papers to be obtained in Portugal:
- No Tax debt - takes a few seconds downloading a PDF from the Portal das Financas. You and/or your lawyer must have access to it already since when you received your NIF.
- No Social Security debt - in practice most of us would have āno recordā declaration rather than āno debtā from Social Security. This is obtained either by yourself or by your lawyer under PoA at any Social Security office. Some of the offices require appointments in advance, some you can just turn up and ask for such declaration. I did it twice myself - first time without an appointment at my local (rural/remote) Segurance Social office, and second time with the prior appointment in Porto.
As there is āno recordā you cannot make an appointment online, but you can call their support line and book it over the phone.
From what you said, I surmise that your lawyer may have booked some earliest available appointment for June at their local/convenient Seguranca Social office, which is quite possible in a busy place like Lisbon or Porto. If this is the case, talk to them and ask to find another slot elsewhere earlier, as you donāt want your SEF case to sit on a shelf of āpending documentsā for 2-3 months. Or if you are in PT, just get this yourself, it takes 5 min to get this printed once you are inside the Social Security office.
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All right, thanks Tommy Gun! 
Wendy
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Iām going to guess that SEF was simply aware of what had happened with appointments due to the strikes and re-scheduled them all. I donāt hold out much hope that it will have any impact on anyone whose appointment was missed for individual reasons. I think emails to SEF are lost in an inbox of 10,000s with no hope of anyone getting to the bottom of the inbox. They wonāt take calls or in person visits in relation to GV applications (they do for other visa types apparently), so they probably donāt even know that there have been attempts to re-arrange appointments (as in our case). Their IT system is only programmed to churn out first appointments. The reason I believe that filing a case is the only way forward for those of us whoāve missed appointments (for whatever reason) is that I think itās the only way to get their attention.
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