I’ll keep the forum updated… Stay tuned and wish me luck! So far, my CPA never disappointed me, but this is a new territory, so to speak. 
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With Lisbon timelines slipping easily beyond the 12m mark, are any of you considering legal action to force SEF to stick to its stated timelines and get this resolved? Not sure how long the legal process is - but at this point, I am almost sure it will be faster than waiting for the process on its own…
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I have been thinking about it, both for myself (force card to be issued) and my wife (stuck waiting for pre approval). Can anyone recommend a lawyer who’s won such a case? I am disappointed with the poor quality of legal advice from my golden visa firm (GCS) and probably wouldn’t trust them to handle this.
We also received a request for the same documents a couple of weeks ago with a Sept 4 deadline. We have submitted them on Aug 24th and are also hoping we are now finally near the end.
Would appreciate any further updates you have, as we seem to be on similar timelines.
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Will let you know as soon as I get to know something.
For your reference, we received an email for the updated documents on the 8th of August, my lawyer submitted the documents on the 14th.
Going by the messages above it should take a month odd after submitting the updated docs to hear back from the SEF, but then again who knows…
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Encouraging to hear that Wendy, congratulations
Question re proof of in-country.
Is it required to have a passport stamp showing PT entry , or would showing in-country purchases with a NIF be sufficient? Or are both needed?
I could easily see both being needed, and I can easily see it depending on the SEF agent in question 
We are retaining boarding passes documenting our travel to Portugal, since we generally enter the EU through another country (i.e., no passport stamp for PT). We are also retaining receipts of purchases within Portugal, using our NIF. This is per the advice of our Lisbon based immigration lawyers.
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10 posts were split to a new topic: Deductibility of Golden Visa expenses for US tax purposes
70 days since my final payment and no card yet. After catching up with this forum I logged in to the portal and I can’t see anything that shows the payment as having been processed. The only payment I can see here is the original one from when the application was submitted. Can anyone help me understand what this means?
How did you make your final payment, if there was no DUC issued on the portal?
Are they proposing to handle the complaint against SEF themselves or suggesting you find another attorney to do that? Any idea what it will cost?
You need to have the DUC to do the payment to “State.” That DUC should be showing in the screenshot you provided.
No idea. I wired money to my lawyers and they made the payment. I just asked them why it wasn’t reflecting and here’s their reply: “please consider that this amount is not reflected on the portal. SEF’s modus operandi is to send you the transfer details and we’ll send you a copy of the proof of payment”
I have no idea what that means. Where does one get the DUC from?
PS - thank you for the quick responses. I’m starting to worry that I may have just lost 70 more days in what is already a ~2 year process.
The screenshot refers to €533 in 15-10-2021, which is (or would have been) the initial payment at the time of application.
The “final” payment (ie post biometrics & at approval) which triggers the process to receive the card, is almost 10 times greater (€ 5812,11 in 2023) : Portal de Informação ao Imigrante.
Have you put up the right screenshot - ie which should refer to 70 days ago in 2023 when “final” payment was/is requested or paid?
Ask your lawyers for a screenshot of what they have been asked to pay (or the DUC), and a confirmation or proof of the DUC payment (which is a payment to the State) which they have offered. It will help you to understand what has been requested and paid.
@Ash,
No need to worry. Faro seems to have its own process. I never got the DUC after lawyer received email to make payment, and payment was never reflected on SEF portal. I did receive the card about 60 days after the payment. Maybe it is taking longer in summer.
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Hi
Seems like they have their own legal team to do that. Have not explored the costs yet.
Cheers
Many thanks @cwaljw for enlightening. For the future, we must remember that Faro has its own process!
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Yes, I was about to say that some SEF offices bypass the DUC issuance and follow a ‘manual’ payment process.
In that instance, I recommend emailing directly your SEF biometric office (Faro?) enquiring about your card status. Remember to cc their official contact center email always.
Ah, that’s a relief to hear, thank you! It sounds like my process is similar to yours. Hopefully I get the card soon. It’s been such a long wait!