Yes, my lawyer also just confirmed the same thing. Thank you for informing me!
Same boat as you. Passed a year 6 days ago, Biometrics office is Lisbon, but I am still very hopeful they’ll start processing final approvals soon. August is hard because summer holidays happen in August.
I think we should all ask our lawyers to follow up with SEF, Lisbon. There has been no movement for the last one month.
At the biometrics, all the papers were reviewed. I don’t know why SEF, Lisbon is taking such a long time for the final approval.
Some push may help get them moving.
Say it with us: “summer holidays in Portugal”
its our mantra for 6 months every year 
My lawyer suggested keep record on everything related, boarding passes, hotel reservation, all receipts, and passport stamps etc
Every time I get an alert of a new message in this thread, I get excited that there is a new final approval, but then when I check, I’m disappointed.
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I had a call with my lawyer earlier today and found out there are only 3 people working on GV applications (for final approval) at SEF Lisbon office since May. No wonder the wait time is more than a year now… Unbelievable…
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That’s an interesting data point. There are about 150 ARI approvals a month on average nationwide. Assume half of them are out of Lisbon (a guestimate based on the NG database). So each of the 3 staffers in Lisbon are approving 25 applications a month, or about one a day. That suggests each application averages about six hours work, assuming these staff aren’t doing any other tasks.
For reference, the SEF Manual says that the following steps are done (“within a maximum period of 90 days” [lol])
• Organize the ARI process;
• Verify the Status of the Foreign Citizen (checks and controls that any foreign citizen is subjected to under the activities of SEF);
• Check if the application contains all required documents and prepare a report with a draft decision (in accordance with Article 126 of the CPA). If the Instructor has doubts about the currency of the documents submitted, they may request that the interested party provide new documents with a more recent date, provided the lack of currency of these is not attributable to the applicant, without prejudice to the provisions in point 2.3 of this Manual concerning criminal records;
• The report and decision proposal from the competent Regional Director is sent to the Office of the DN (National Directorate) (in case of a proposal for approval). In this case, the report can be simplified, being made “per relationem” to the documents in the process;
August GV final approval numbers are out. Only 64 approvals. Hoping these are due to summer vacations and things will pickup again soon. When does summer vacations end in Portugal?
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Below is August ARI report showing a strong drop in the approvals vs previous months which might be due to summer holidays
AGOSTO 2023 ARI (3).pdf (63.2 KB)
2 thoughts from my side:
- out of the 67 approved cases, none was reported in Nomadgate excel sheet which means that our data is far from being representative
- 6 final approvals for applicants from Russia: first time seeing Russia appearing in report as one the top 5 countries .
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How does the do this year compare to previous years’ drops in August?
August 2018: 82
August 2019: 147
August 2020: 107
August 2021: 64
August 2022: 77
August 2023: 64
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Most definitely you are the only one doing that 
Thank you for sharing those interesting numbers.
At SEF? , SEF, it states “Enter your Private Area”
How does one obtain a SEF login please?
I should add that my Attorney has conducted all contact with SEF regarding my GV application.
Thank you in advance.
I apologize, I have just seen the answer on this forum.
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I’m expecting final approval in Q1 2024, and I’m just thinking ahead. Can anyone report what refreshed documents SEF is likely to require? Presumably a new criminal records check, and confirmation of investment… anything else, like the marriage certificate? Thanks
SEF requested refreshed
- Declaration of money transfer from abroad and to the Fund;
- Cert of Fund Participation Unit Ownership;
and full copy of my new passport.
approx. 1.5 months before final approval.
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Got my card issued today, 1 year and 10 months waiting since applied. The lawyer is still following up with family members payment release from SEF.
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Hi all,
My lawyers finally got my card in the mail today Note that my card’s issuance date is the 14th Aug 2023 and expires 14th Aug 2025.
Application submitted - September 21st 2021
Pre-approval - April 7th 2022
Invited to book biometrics - June 24th 2022
Biometrics in Lisbon- July 6th 2022
SEF requested bank declaration - April 2023 (submitted beginning May 2023)
Final Approval - July 17th 2023
Payment submitted - July 18th 2023
Card received - Sept 6th 2023
Will update the database now. Let the countdown to a passport begin!
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I think whether or not you have to submit new docs depends on how long it’s been since biometrics. My friend did her biometrics in Jan 23, submitted police check in March 23, and got final approval late July / early August. I don’t believe she had to re-submit anything.
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