Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3)

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa šŸ‡µšŸ‡¹
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1742

Os jogos estĆ£o a partirā€¦

main applicant scheduled for 7 June, Coimbra

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1743

Hello! When did you get the invitation for biometrics?

1744

Thanks Selina!

Wendy

1745

Me? 23 May.
Application late-ish Dec21, pre-approval mid-march23

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1746

Thank you. It seems that invitations were sent for applicants who were preapproved in Marchā€¦

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1747

My wife and I had our biometrics appointments on Tuesday in Lisbon. Everything seems to have gone smoothly and all our documentation was found to be in order. Now the wait for final approval. Information from this board was invaluable, so my thanks to everyone who reported on their own biometrics experiences. We had about 7 weeks between our biometrics invitations and our appointment, so we had time to get updated FBI criminal background checks with apostilles and an updated marriage certificate with apostille. We also brought my social security card (spouseā€™s not needed), photocopies of our passports (all pages ā€“ our lawyer made a photocopy of the page with the new Portugal stamp after we arrived), our actual passports (of course), and our boarding passes. Thankfully, the Immigration officer made nice, heavy stamps in our passports when we entered the country. Our lawyer handled all of the other required documents, translations, and certifications. Our appointment was at 10am, our lawyer arrived at 10:05am (5 minutes of stress), we took a number at that point, our number was called at 10:35am, our lawyer called us in about 15-20 minutes later, and we were finished and out the door by 11:05am. Here is our full timeline:

Main application submitted: Dec. 12, 2021
Payment for main application: Dec. 13, 2021
Spouse application submitted: Dec. 16, 2021
Payment for spouse application: Dec. 17, 2021
Pre-approval: Dec. 15, 2022 (both same day)
Biometrics appointment invitations received: Mar. 28, 2023
Biometrics appointments: May 23, 2023 (coincidentally, my wifeā€™s 60th birthday).

Good luck to everyone who is still going through this part of the process.

7 Likes
1748

Applied: Dec 21 2021
Pre-approved: Mar 15 2023
Biometrics scheduled: Jun 27 2023

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1749

Hi

Thanks for your status update.

Since you mentioned FBI clearance, may I know how long the State Dept took to apostille it?

Thanks

Taufiq

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1750

Hi Taufiq,

I submitted the request to an apostille service on April 5. I was able to submit the request and upload the FBI documents to them electronically. They probably submitted the apostille request to the State Dept. the next day. The apostille service emailed me on May 8 to say they had received the apostilles from the State Dept. The apostille service sent the apostilles to me via FedEx, and I received them on May 10. This was an unexpectedly fast turnaround, since the serviceā€™s website had said to expect the process to take 6-7 weeks. I had told the service to check with me before sending me the apostilles, because if they were received too late I was going to have them ship the apostilles directly to my lawyer in Portugal. I was able to avoid that extra expense due to the quick turnaround.

Good luck.

  • Matt
1751

Thanks for the prompt and detailed answer. It really helped. I was trying to gauge what the actual difference if any between the officially announced processing time for the apostille and the actual time reported on various fora.

Also, another question if I may, did you use the downloaded report from FBI or an actual paper one?

Thanks again.

Taufiq

1752

I might go forward by sueing SEF to get appointments. My dependant and myself are on our third renewal but since 2021, we are unable to get appointments to renew our ARI residence card (or auto renewal).

1753

I used the downloaded FBI reports. I submitted the downloaded reports to the apostille service electronically. The apostille service presumably printed them out for submission to the State Dept. Or maybe not. But when I received the apostilles back from the apostille service, each apostille was attached to a printed copy of the corresponding FBI report.

1754

Thanks, Matt. Hope the rest of the process goes smoothly for you.

3 Likes
1755

Same. Only received the invitation to book biometrics appointment for the main applicant, but my husband and two kids have heard nothing.
Is everyone else in the same boat?

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1756

We are in the same boat, primary applicant submitted around Dec 15 2021 and dependents submitted Dec 30 2021, all pre-approved Jan 25.

Only the primary applicant was invited to biometrics in the end of March, and conducted in early May.

We plan to utilize these residency cards this year - itā€™s pretty difficult to plan given weā€™ve heard nothing on the dependentsā€™ invites for biometrics.

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1757

Having the cards in hand by end of year might be a stretch anywayā€¦

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1758

What do you mean by ā€œutilize the cardsā€? What for?

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1759

By utilize the residency cards, I mean to exceed the 90/180 day EU rule.

I understand that some folks awaiting residency cards on another thread are moving in and out of Portugal and exceeding the 90/180 while waiting for the cards, but my lawyers arenā€™t greenlighting this. Iā€™m not convinced that I can predictably move freely in the EU / Portugal without the residency card.

The residency card and its rights are more of a certainty with respect to staying in Portugal and moving freely within/out of the EU for extended periods of time.

1760

Ok, thatā€™s what I thought :slight_smile:

Youā€™d be pleased to hear that many folks here have been ā€œgreenlightedā€ including myself.
I am still referring to that Despacho dated 31 Dec 2021 which I posted here several times, and it works.

I see you applied before 2022 so you are in the same ā€˜happyā€™ boat legally speaking.

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1761

Thank you @tommigun for posting that Despacho. I didnā€™t put you together with that stream.

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