I posed the same question to my lawyer: why so few applications are being approved? She basically said that it is now almost certain that nothing would start moving again until transition of SEF into AIMA is complete. My interpretation: plan on additional three to six months on top of the current scheduleā¦
Wow!
Wendy
Iām in the (maybe) odd position of waiting for my dependent visa to be approved, while my wife (primary) got her resident card four months ago. Our applications, pre-approvals, and biometrics were all simultaneous. At first, we thought maybe I just got held up by the summer break, but as September has now given way to October, Iām starting to think that theyāve dropped my file behind a desk or something.
If we have to wait for the transition to AIMA to be complete before I get a visa, then the start and end dates of my visa are going to be seriously out of sync with my wifeās.
There is also a known issue with SEF IT systems causing delays . You might say itās the perfect storm .
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Iām curious as to why that would be the case assuming the people who are processing the files donāt change and are simply transferred to the new organization. AIMA is supposed to make things more efficient so I canāt see them re-assigning people who know the process as a part of the transition.
What is the authority for this assertion?
I donāt have exact details, but it appears that during administrative transitions, much more time is wasted whilst new internal directives are being issued. Potential re-shaffling of internal resources is also a strong possibility.
I hope I am wrong, but it is not looking too promising thus farā¦
This is great if itās true. I myself am skeptical that simply changing the name on the uniform will suddenly create a big shift in efficiency. Letās hope for the best.
Youāre right to be skeptical, but I hope the idea is more than a change of uniform. But rather to split the āpolicingā functions from the āadministrativeā ones to create an agency fit-for-purpose with respect to āprocessingā immigration (which is largely bureaucratic these days)
But as you say weāll wait to seeā¦
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It is possible that having dedicated leadership focused on immigration applications can improve efficiency and morale. Yet, the things SEF is complaining about such as lack of resources, staffing, budget for new IT systems. These arenāt going to be magically fixed on October 31. If anything, the new agency will have a learning curve and training curve at first and even if they get budget to fix IT systems this will take months to sort out.
We have been seeing pre approvals here since the summer holidays ended, so I am not sure your lawyer is right.
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I think an optimist would simply hope the transition doesnt make things worse. It is unrealistic to hope for an improvement in government function in PT.
Maybe pre-approvals, but I was referring mainly to the final approval (Stage 4). I have not seen too many coming out of Lisbon
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Weāve been prodding our PT lawyers for answers regarding my tardy dependent visa (my wife is the primary ā she received her card about 5 months ago). They just got back to us and asked us for an updated marriage certificate. Weāve submitted it at least twice during this process (and yes, Iām aware they āexpireā when PT applies their own rules about marriage certificates to the rest of the world).
So my wife is off getting another one from the county where we got married, and then to the state capital to have it apostilled.
So, you know, the usual garden-variety kind of frustrations going on here.
I got my final approval months ago - still no card - this is crazy. My lawyer says that itās all a mess due to the changes, but surely there is nothing left to do except issue the card? I paid? He says they are āringing every weekā but I donāt believe him. Is there anything I can do?
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What date did you pay the DUC for your card?
If more than 60days elapsed since then you may want to email SEF as follows:
- email to the SEF office where you had your bio
- email SEF IT
- cc SEF contact center
- cc your lawyer
I cannot even comment as to how your lawyers are able to āring SEFā as SEF is known for not taking any phone calls 
Hopefully some of you get your final approval before the fees go up at the end of the month.
Thanks. By email the SEF office where I did my bio - would that be the same email as they sent the final approval? I emailed that today. I paid within a day or so of getting the final approval, so around 1 August (over 60 days, yes). Do you know the email addresses for SEF IT or contact centre? I have not dealt with them directly, only through my lawyer. Your comments about phones are telling. Thanks.