Thanks, glad to hear it. Iāve updated the table in the two posts above. C
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Hi, Chris. I am also glad to learn your friendās good news. Did he do the biometrics in Lisbon as well? My wife and I have also waited for nearly 13 months after our biometrics in Lisbon. But still no news at all up to now!
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Hello James,
These were my friends, and yes, they did their biometrics in Lison in the end of January, 2022. Sorry to hear about your long wait, but just āhang in thereā - eventually your case will be resolved as well. This is Portugal, and it is ānormalāā¦ 
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Thank you very much, Roman. We really hope that we will be as lucky as your friends! Their news is indeed encouraging.
Hi Chris,
My lawyerās client bio was in Jan 2022 and fimily bio were in April 2022. Received final approval in early Oct 2022 (ref. my post on 25 Oct 2022). Therefore i suggest to edit bio month to Jan instead of April in your sheet, which may better reflect reality and calm us down a bit.
Also to share what my lawyer told me in person on 1 Feb 2023 in person: she is seeing final approval of client who did bio in May 2022 and she is 100% confident that i will get my card within 2023.
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Thanks Roger, have updated
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Congratulations to those who received their final approval! Can one of those folks, who have access to SEF portal, be kind enough to tell us what the status turns into when final approval is granted? At the moment for those who had their bio-metrics appointment, the status is āApplication acceptedā and the situation is āCompareceuā. Iād like to know what wording I should expect to see in order to start the celebrations.
Just wondering if there is any intell out there regarding processing times from biometrics done at SEF Portimao to issuance of the residence cards? We are (family of four) heading to Portugal this week for our biometrics in Portimao next Monday 6 March.
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Just be thankful you are at this point! Probably going to be another year+ before you get your cards.
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All that I can tell you is that I did my biometrics during the first week of November in Portimao and I havenāt heard anything yet. I donāt really expect to hear anything for another 6 months at least as things are going at the moment.
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I did mine in september 2022 at Porto. After about a month they asked for clearance from country of birth when I have been living in the states for the past decade. My lawyer sent all the VISA copies and driving license records from USA for the years of residence as proof. No updates since then.
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What is this āclearanceā from country of birth? You mean a criminal record check?
You mean they wanted proof youāve been resident in the US throughout? I suppose they would ask for this if youāre not a citizen but only a resident (of the US), and I guess theyād also want the clearance from country of birth in that case. But they could have asked for it all at the outset, not one month after your biometrics.
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I am indeed counting my blessings! Was just wondering what other peopleās experiences have been with biometrics in Portimao. Any glimmers of hope that it wonāt be yet another year for the residence cards help lift the spirits with this process.
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Yes I guess it is still early days for you.
As we know by now, requires a police certificate from the main GV applicant for EITHER the country of birth OR the country of residence for longer than 1-year.
However it is such an ambiguous line, that I suppose SEF agent may interpret this the way they like and request one, two etc. or all of those possible police certsā¦
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This is what I thought and was confident that US FBI clearance would be enough. But Iām a little worried now.
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yes criminal record check. I have had a couple of lawyers say that criminal records from country of birth is not required if one has been residing in another country for a long time. I think the documents go through different people in the GV process. First it is checked during biometrics then it goes to back office processing where the person interprets everything differently. They will keep asking for more documents till you get fed up and drop the whole thing.
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We did biometrics in Lisbon in August 2022. We are still waiting for approval/cards.
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Thanks, Iāve added you to the table. The latest Lisbon biometrics thatās been approved that I know of is April 2022
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Do you happen to have numbers on Faro or Porto? The only Faro report I could find was a few months between appt and card.
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