Hi, our bad, we didnât know we were supposed to/expected to email them. Our lawyer seemed to indicate that it was up to us to take an appointment now or later. I now read (too late) that its expected that one books on receiving an invite as future rounds are not available to previously invited applicants.
Our lawyer is not concerned, but Iâm very worried. We will ask our lawyer to file a case if nothing changes in the next month or two, but so far she doesnât seem to think any action is needed but to wait for the next batch of appointments to come in
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If you do not respond/accept the invitation to biometrics in an allotted 10 days window, then you will never be invited again and your application may be silently cancelled by SEF (see SEF Manual for details).
So you definitely need to petition with SEF explicitly asking them to re-invite you and explaining your reasons for not responding to the original invite.
Thank you. To clarify - a petition would be a formal submission from my lawyer, yes? To which we would need to wait for a response, and if there is none, this might then need a case?
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Yes, a formal letter from your lawyer sent by registered mail.
Or your own letter if you donât have a lawyer⊠
But still I would not jump from the letter straight to the court case as there are other ânicerâ avenues to explore in-between.
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Thanks @jjmz
Hi @loheiman , just wanted to check if you are still managing the sheet (very helpful tool, btw. Thank you!). I see that the only way for new users to enter their data is through the form, so there must be someone who is manually transferring the data from the form to the sheet. Is it you or were you able to automate that process?
A few users complained about updating their data but not seeing the change reflected on the sheet (@cj807 , @Starts )
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This happened to my husband. He missed his appointment - our lawyer was trying to swap his appointment with my daughter as he couldnât make it and she being a baby had to travel with me to mine on the same day but she hadnât been invited. So they were in dialogue with SEF, he wasnât just a no-show. Another three batches of appointments have been opened up and heâs not been re-invited. Itâs lawsuit time for us now.
Just to add - we have obviously tried to get in touch with SEF since to re-arrange, but they donât really respond to emails and wonât take phone calls re GV applications apparently.
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Where does it say in the manual that it may be cancelled? Our new lawyer who will be filing the suit for us for my husbandâs case, said itâs not the legal position that you only get âone shotâ at it. She firmly believes itâs poor systems and processes on SEFâs part, meaning these applications fall in a black hole.
An update â my daughter, whose application was submitted 27/1/22 and pre-approved 5/5/22 has now been invited for biometrics in this most recent batch.
Can someone please share the link to the spreadsheet and Iâll update our entry?
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Iâm not sure it is in the manual, just the general experience of people who didnât respond or missed their appointment. Falling into a black hole may be the functional equivalent of a âone shotâ policyâŠbut there have been people on the forum who have gotten second (or even third) chances, it is just extremely rare.
An interesting angle I think will be when this pertains to a family reunification case rather than the main applicant, as is our case. Are they seriously suggesting (by not inviting my husband to biometrics), that I would move to Portugal with our children but my husband wouldnât be permitted to join us? I suspect that probably breaches an EU law or two (assuming thereâs no criminal or other reason to deny him).
Anyway, letâs see where the case gets us!
There you go:
Which should be updated by submitting a new form here:
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Thank you! Is it possible to add my family member, who are on a different timeline? Theyâre not members of this forum so no username.
See SEF Manual page 22, section 2.4:
"AdvertĂȘncia das consequĂȘncias do nĂŁo cumprimento da notificação.
ï Se nĂŁo cumprir a notificação, o processo Ă© extinto nos termos dos artigos 95.Âș (Inutilidade
superveniente) ou 132.Âș do CPA (Deserção);
"
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I see. My husband wasnât a no show though, our lawyer was trying to rearrange. SEF were just non-responsive.
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Yep i updated the sheet and typically do so every 2-4 weeks. If anyone is interested in helping me manage it, Iâd be open to it. Itâs a bit manual unfortunately and I donât have a great system for de-duplicating entries. I regret not making this sheet editable by anyone and having people enter their dates directly into the sheet. Now though, iâm not sure how people would be able to identify their own entries without leaking your email/username to everyone. Thoughts?
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Hello Loheiman,
Iâm sorry I donât have the time, skill. or patience to help you manage the spread sheet, but I hope someone more capable has reached out to you.
Where is a good place for me to send you information to be uploaded to the spread sheet?
Thanks for your help,
Bradley Jordan
You mentioned that you received your own portal notification also. Iâm assuming this was Portal das Finanças with email notifications turned on yes?
And since you received your own notification, were you yourself able to quickly go in and grab an appointment (or you need to rely on your lawyer who can be slow in responding due to time difference / waiting for email reply).
Thanks!
@loheiman perhaps I could help?
Not sure what people have used to identify themselves in the sheet, but assuming most people are members here I should be able to build a system (probably easier with Airtable than Google Sheet) that let people submit updates while logged in to NG and it would automatically match and update their entry. As long as people have used either their NG username or the same email address they use here, I can match it to the current data.
Of course it would mean I would be able to see everyones submission data, but I guess Iâm the only one who in most cases already have access to everyoneâs email addresses etc anyway.
If thatâs something everyone would be OK with, let me know and Iâll start putting something together.
In that case, any input on whatâs worthwhile tracking (e.g. in addition to the current data points, should we try tracking payment dates, too, as it seems to have an impact?) would be appreciated.
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I assume you are asking about the SEF biometrics appointment notification (invite)?
If so, Portal das Financas has nothing to do with it. It is the name of the Autoridade Tributariaâs portal (Tax Authority).
For ARI purposes you need access to SEF ARI portal (or you rely on your lawyerâs access to the said portal).
Full guidance here:
Now if you have your own access to the SEF ARI portal, then yes, you can go in and grab the biometric appointment by yourself as soon as you get SEFâs invite by email.
The only thing to be aware of is that SEF sometimes sends emails to the applicant but sometimes only to their lawyer. E.g. I never received my pre-approval email (well, nobody received it because I did not have a lawyer at that stage) nor my final approval (that one my lawyer received and forwarded).
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I think thatâs a fantastic idea! I think most you and Nomadgate would be the most trustworthy steward of this data. Yes I think most have used their NG username or email so I donât think it will be too difficult to match them up. For the ones that arenât matched, if members can easily see they donât have timeline populated, they can re-enter it.
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Thanks! And on the ARI portal what did you put for âcommencement of residence periodâ - thatâs the field which led me to your old comment, since you had the same question as me 
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