Who are your lawyers if I may ask. Lately my lawyers too have gone quiet.
Application submitted: 15 December 2021.
Biometrics: 16 June 2023 main applicant Lisbon, family members 23 June 2023 Porto, 11 August 2023 Lisbon.
Court case filed - summer 2024 without result, repeat case - February 2025 (decision not yet made).
DUC received: 21 July 2025 - main applicant, family members DUC 15 September 2025. None of them have received payment accepted status yet.
Card received by main applicant on 19 September 2025, (UPD-the card printed 10 September 2025), family members still waiting.
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Congratulations!
My lawyer insisted that my family will not receive their DUC unless I have my card printed!! So obviously yours was not like this explanation. My DUC was paid on early June and still no news of my card, and also no news for DUC of my family members.
Your lawyer is right. The DUC arrived for my family members 5 days after AIMA printed my card.
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The firm is CRS Advogados
My attorney is Gustavo Dias
@cj807 Hi Chris, the DUC was paid on 10 Nov 2025 and is showing as âPaidâ on the AIMA portal on the same date. Now begins the waiting period for the card.
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Iâll send you a message directly.
Received primary applicant card, roughly two months after DUC payment. Awaiting dependent card having paid their DUC on Nov 10th.
Dates are:
Application: 6 March 2023
Pre-approval: N/A
Biometrics: 6 Jan 2025 (Porto)
Final approval: 22 Sep 2025
Residence card: 18 Nov 2025 (card printed on 5 Nov 2025)
Biometrics was sped up due to lawsuit filing in September 2024.
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Another perfect example of the arbitrariness of card issue dates, and how using them as a start date for Nationality has âNo discernible reasonâ per âO pai da Constituiçãoâ Jorge Miranda.
| Event | me | John |
|---|---|---|
| Application | 13 Feb 2023 | 6 Mar 2023 |
| Biometrics (both âold processâ) | 17 Dec 2024 | 6 Jan 2025 |
| Final approval | still waiting today  |
22 Sep 2025 |
| Residence card (Primary) | " | 5 Nov 2025 |
| Residence card (Dependent) | " | 28 Nov 2025 |
âŠapparently we are both AIMA âold processâ applicants, so this is legacy arbitrariness, not even the new model.
But again⊠dates are 100% due to AIMA administrative whims, and political meddling (âwe leave the wealthiest for the end of the lineâ and all that). Nothing in the Applicantâs control here.
EDIT: added @va.trade23âs 15-Dec updates above. And yes, itâs now been a year since my Bios and still nothing from AIMA 
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My biometrics and payment were processed under the old process. On the day we arrived for our biometrics, they were still not ready to take payment via card.
Ok! I have updated my post above. Still amazed at your luck, although you might not call it that 
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Update - got the receipt of DUC payment processed on 17th of November. Letâs see how long the card takes given the holidays season.
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My residence card (as primary applicant) has arrived at my lawyers.
Application: 1 Oct 2021
Investment: BPI Portugal (open equity fund)
Pre-approval: 25 Jan 2022
Biometrics invitation: 16 Dec 2022
Biometrics: 13 Feb 2023 (Lisbon)
Final approval: 12 Sep 2025 (Funchal)
Card issue date: 7 Nov 2025 (Lisbon)
Expiry: 7 Nov 2027 (2 years)
Received by lawyers: 19 Nov 2025
Type: AR INVESTIMENTO
Remarks (face): ATIVIDADE DE INVESTIMENTO
Remarks (reverse): PERMITE O EXERCĂCIO DE ACTIV. PROFISSIONAL
No lawsuit
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So pleased about your card, Chris.
Obviously the time from application (1 Oct 2021) to Card issue date (7 Nov 2025) exceeds 4 years. One of the longest. Lets hope that when the Constitutional Court gets the PS written objections to the Lei, they agree with Jorge Mirandaâs point about the unfairness (and unconstitutionality) of varying lengths of waiting time for the first card into consideration in their ruling.
Its interesting that the Expresso has a piece that suggests that if the Constitutional Court identifies unconstitutional areas, the PSD say they will negotiate with PS.
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Hold my beer 
Applied in sometime April 2021 and card issue date in November 2025
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Primary residence card (main applicant) arrived at lawyerâs office today. Full timeline as below:
Application: Dec 2021
Pre-approval: Jul 2022
Biometrics: 25 Jan 2023 (Lisbon)
Final approval: 30 Sep 2025 (Funchal)
DUC paid: 2 Oct 2025
Card issue date: 12 Nov 2025
Now waiting for the dependents cards paid DUC on 17 Nov, 2025. Eventually the long way goes to the end. Good luck everyone.
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I couldnât find a way to update the main message, so Iâm posting here.
Ultimately, all dependents received their residence permit cards on November 24th (the cards arrived by mail together), and the cards were printed on November 11th. All the cards are in our hands. Start December 15, 2021, finish November 24, 2025. Not fast))).
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Same for me. Just got the approval email yesterday. 4,5 yearsâŠ
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Just received the final approval email via our lawyer, a full 4 years and 1 week after our initial application. We should have been able to apply for citizenship in 1 year next November but thanks to the new law we now have to wait 10 years, delaying our plans by at least 9 years..
I could understand the right of a country to increase their residence requirement but not giving us any credit for a 4 year delay during which they held our investment is so unfair
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thereâs no new law just yet. The TC have 25 working days from submission of the PS petition on 11/13 to issue a ruling so we should have an update by 12/22 or so. While the Portuguese legislature seems to have been taken over by right wing populists, that doesnât seem to be the case with the courts or the executive so there are still some functioning checks in place. IANAL, but the level headed consensus seems to be that the new law as passed out of the legislature is likely to be found to be unconstitutional.
I think this is mostly political theater for CHâs base and I donât think itâs naive to expect this to progress similarly to the foreignerâs law last summer - constitutional court finds issue, punts back to legislature, revised and reintroduced in the next session and passed in watered down form. Relevant to ARI participants are the subversion of legitimate expectations and the differential timelines to citizenship depending upon country of origin. Lawyers Iâve spoken to pretty unanimously say they expect some sort of transition plan to account for those already in the system will be necessary for this legislation to get past the TC.
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