Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4)

Update:
Primary applicant and spouse received the cards. No lawsuits.
Parent - final approval still pending.

Full timeline:

  • Application: 23 November 2021
  • Pre-Approval: 20 July 2022
  • Biometrics (Lisbon): 15 February 2023
  • Final Approval: 23 October 2025 – but our lawyers only let me know about the approval on 11th of November!
  • Final payment date: not sure the exact date, I am guessing end of November.
  • Cards received: 21 January 2026
13 Likes

Congrats @ele0sf, @cbab, @ashrafismael, @JustTim, and others.

Please make sure to update Crowdsourced Golden Visa Timeline Database – Nomad Gate with your milestones - namely:

  • Final approval received on
  • Residence card fees paid on
  • Residence card received on

Looking at the main view, I think it’s missing some updates :slight_smile:

4 Likes

have posted!

1 Like

Card received: February 4 2026

6 Likes

Residence cards received 4th Feb for all the family, 1185 days since application :rofl:

13 Likes

Finally received my card as well (or at least my lawyer did).

  • Application: December 2021
  • Pre-Approval: December 2022
  • Biometrics (Lisbon): April 2023
  • Final Approval: June 2025
  • Final payment date: June 2025
  • Cards received: Feb 2026 (card says issued in July 2025)

Does anyone have any experience paying DUC late and still getting their residence cards? We are currently debating whether or not to move forward with my partner’s payment in light of the anticipated changes in the law. She’s out if we have to wait 10 years to apply for citizenship, and were hoping to have some clarity before shelling out another 6k.

4 Likes

DUC expires after ~ 10 days. not possible to pay it late.
But you should be able to request a new DUC, and restart the 10 days.

Thanks, I’m wondering if we could let it expire and request another in say 3-6 months?

Your lawyer would be the best source of information on that.

She hasn’t had a client do this as yet.

I’m in the same place. Not interested in proceeding if the clock for applying for nationality doesn’t start with application and we aren’t grandfathered to the 5 years that was in effect when we made our investment.

Another option we’re considering, now that I have my card, is for my partner to let her GV process lapse then apply for citizenship as my spouse after I am naturalized. This would set her back 2-3 yrs behind me, but she’s already ~ 1yr behind me given AIMA’s policy to stagger dependent applications. Doing this would also allow her to bypass the entire GV process with all the fees, paperwork, and endless waiting.

The GV was always a Plan B for us, our goal was to obtain citizenship not necessarily live there in the foreseeable future.

I plan to do the same thing, just keep in mind the processing time for citizenship through residency time is about 2-3yrs and the current processing time through marriage is about 4-5yrs.

Hopefully these times improve

1 Like

Someone was told 7-8 years in Coimbra recently. Too many applications and they don’t want that many new citizens.

When did you do your biometrics?

1 Like

Shocking. None of these timelines were given when we made our investments