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.
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.