I am already settled in Europe but unfortunately my wife can only stay 90 days every 6 months which is putting a strain on our marriage.
If you are settled in Portugal, the rules on 90-day stays within 6 months timeframes have not been strictly enforced, at least not up to this point. I got my card only a couple of months ago, and my wife is still in a limbo, already for nearly three years of living in PT. That did not stop us from travelling throughout several countries in the EU and flying for âshortâ trips to the U.S., U.K., and Australia. The most recent one was just two weeks ago when we crossed by car to Gibraltar: the Spaniards gave us a dirty look on the way out and then on the way in, promptly found empty pages in our US passports, stamped them, and waved us through. The Brits didnât care at all.
Other EU countries, of course, may differ.
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My GV application was accepted and paid for in October 2021. I moved to Portugal in March of 2022. The acceptance document said I could move to Portugal while waiting for SEF to process the visa. That is what I did, even though my biometric appointment wasnât scheduled until Jan of 2023.
Check her notification of acceptance of her GV application. It should say the same thing. With it she can move to Portugal. I have been here for 3 years and 4 months waiting for my first residence card.
Whether or not you want to continue to retain your GV application is another matter. At 77, a 10 year wait that discounts time already in Portugal is a non-starter. I will await the final law to decide, but I have low expectations. I anticipate leaving Portugal and cashing in my investment as soon as the fund dissolves in 2028.
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I have been waiting even longer than you and am in a worse place (at least you had biometrics two years ago, I cant even get biometrics), so abandoning the process is the right move for me. I wish I wasnât in a fund that I canât liquidate. But that said, given that you live in Portugal and will probably get your residence card this year, why is citizenship so important? Unless you were mostly interested in getting the passport and then moving to another EU country (which is totally fair!), once you have the card, you should be able to live fairly freely, even if you never become a citizen during your lifetime.
It is a matter of trust. I no longer trust that the Portuguese State is a trustworthy partner where I feel comfortable living my remaining years.
Yes, I am in Portugal.
I have no guarantee that I will receive a residence card in the foreseeable future given the remaining backlog and policy decisions to accelerate processing of new visa applications ahead of those who have waited years already.
GV investments must be retained until citizenship is acquired. I am 77. If this change to the nationality law passes as proposed, I will not be able to recoup my investment in my lifetime.
The cost of the initial residence card and renewals are significant. Application for GV permanent residency, which can be applied for 5 years after your first residence card and lasts 5 years,is 10,000 euros and you must still retain your investment.
Given the damage to the US Social Security system, it appears pensions will likely be reduced 25% by 3030. This would be a serious problem for me if I cannot take my investment from my fund when it dissolves in 2028.
So unless Portugal amends the proposed law to grandfather the 5 year period for nationality and honors the law passed last year to begin counting legal residence to the date of application, my remaining in Portugal would be an act of incredible financial stupidity.
Either the PSD and their allies do not understand how deeply they are betraying those of us who invested in Portugal in good faith trusting in their integrity, or they simply donât care.
Yes, Portuguese immigration is a mess and needs to be reformed; but the mess is of their making . If they want to have an ounce of credibility for the future, they cannot renege on promises made and place the entire burden of reform on us.
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Once you have your card, perhaps consider switching to D7 to be able to sell your property and not pay high renewal fees - just an idea.
I seriously considered cancelling my GV application since I am still waiting for residency after so many years. Then Parliament passed the law changing the start date for calculating the beginning of the 5 years to applying for citizenship to the date of application. Starting over with a D7 would have meant loosing over 3 years time toward the 5 year requirement, so decided not to. Again, Iâm 77. If I were younger losing those 3 years wouldnât have been such an obstacle.
Now, of course, Portugal has played Lucy with the football again: handing us a bone to compensate for years of wait time and then snatching it away with time to apply for citizenship starting with the first residency card- which they have not issued for thousands of us despite years of waiting.
How many more times will they pull the rug out from under us?
Can we trust them to consider our interests or the harm they are causing to people who applied to come here in good faith?
If they decide that there are too many of us in Portugal what would keep them from simply not renewing D7s?
Temporary residence carries with it no guarantees. Citizenship does.
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can we do anything to raise or voice to current government in this regard , we all showing our frustration here only , but not the the officials responsible for the stupidity , peoples who lives already in Portugal must do something, any though and action welcome
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I already said many times - write a letter to the Deputies of the Assembly (aka Members of Parliament). How many people have done this so far? I know one for sure 
Is it possible to get the draft or anything, I will ensure to be submitted for me and my fellow PGV candidates
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Tommigun: if you have written such a letter would you please supply an address?
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And an address for the President of the Republic?
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I suggest you write your own letter expressing your concerns. If we all send the exact same letter they will not take it seriously.
This is not a petition (but there are two petitions active at the moment that we all should sign too).
As for the addresses, they are online contact forms you find as follows:
https://www.portugal.gov.pt/pt/gc25/primeiro-ministro/contatos
- for the Prime Minister, and also on the same website similar Contatos forms for any other member of the government
https://www.parlamento.pt/sites/COM/XVIILeg/1CACDLG/Paginas/Composicao.aspx
- for the Deputies of the Assembly, I provide this link for the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, but you can find any other Deputy if you search the same website.
To send an email click on each Deputy name, then click Enviar e-mail link and it allows to complete a form with attachments.
- last but not least, here you write to the President (also with attachments)
I suggest you prepare your letter as a PDF attachment in advance to simplify the process.
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How/where do we write them?
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Sorry, just noticed your other post. Iâll contact them today. Hope many more NG users will too.
Do you happen to know the name of the document, maybe in Portuguese? Iâm on the Mercan/IAS track so I have no access to my own immigration portal, we submitted the initial application and the payment in June 2022, and IAS never mentioned such a document. Maybe by 2022 SEF had stopped giving it out, so Iâd like to ask about the document by name, if you know it. Or do you mean you were given this document upon receiving Pre-Approval? My application never reached that stage, currently Iâm still waiting for it, having refreshed all my documents a couple months ago.
As well, I am sorry for your situation. I can imagine how the awareness of limited time adds an additional sense of urgency. And betrayal, given how ARI applicants have been treated.
(Several edits for better grammatical clarity, and some unnecessary rambling, since I am a blabbermouth, sorry.)
Been meaning to share an update here. My lawyers informed me one week ago that AIMA had requested an updated copy of my passport, because the one on file would soon be expiring. Itâs also possible they requested this because there was a discrepancy on my application between the number of the passport provided and the number of the passport on the application form (my lawyers made a mistake that I noticed after submission, because I had two different active US passports at the time, one was a temporary passport to be used for another visa I needed for work at the time).
I submitted my updated passport to the lawyers, and now just crossing my fingers that this means the application will be processed soon. The timeline of response from AIMA seems consistent with others here who had biometrics in Lisbon around that date. (Iâm assuming my application was sent to Madeira along with others from that time, though havenât confirmed that with the lawyers.)
Application: Nov 17, 2021
Pre-approval: Jun 27, 2022
Biometrics (Lisbon): Jan 12, 2023
No lawsuit
Updated passport requested: Jun 26, 2025
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hello all. i, like many others, have found this thread helpful (both practical and emotional) during this lengthy process.
iâm happy to share that we received our approval today. some key dates
application was November 2021
biometrics in Lisboa in March 2023
good luck to each of you still waiting!
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Hello.
I have a question. I did my biometrics in March 2023 in Guarda and got approval end of July 2024 (although some info on the card was incorrect and lawyer resubmitted correction but no new card yet!!). My family did their biometrics in Lisbon in June of 2023 and no approval yet. My lawyer says my familyâs file is in Guarda because I am the main applicant. I thought it was in Lisbon (although as read here some have been sent elsewhere). Are family files sent to the main applicantâs place of biometrics? Any new Guarda approvals? Lisbon is around March 2023 biometrics right? Thank you to all for their updates in this frustrating process.