Not sure what you meant by “lisbon office”. The card is printed by “Casa de Moéda”, not by SEF/AIMA. Card will be delivered to my lawyer’s office in Lisbon. It has been 2 weeks for my dependent, but still no card.
I assumed that renewals (as well as first cards) are processed by a certain SEF/AIMA office…hence my question.
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The way it used to be before AIMA:
- a certain SEF office processed the final approval (same office that took biometrics)
- they passed the info to SIISEF (aka SEF IT) to process the card order
- SIISEF passed the card order to INCM (Casa de Moeda) for printing
- INCM passed the printed card to CTT for delivery
- CTT delivered the card to your lawyer OR to the same SEF office in the first line (that choice I think was random
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Any one else notice that since SEF went bye bye, they stopped publishing statistics!
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Indeed. Perhaps too embarrassed to publish them. Doesn’t support the happy narrative of the glorious AIMA launch 
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Anyone know If the statistics were a requirement by law or was it just something the SEF was doing out of the goodness of their hearts?
If it is the former, is there something like a freedom of information request we could lodge with the AIMA forcing them to publish these statistics?
Edit:
Found this -
The Portuguese Constitution guarantees the right of access to administrative documents in its Article 268, titled “Citizens’ rights and guarantees [before the Administration]”. Its paragraphs (1), (2) and (6) read as following:
"1. Citizens have the right to be informed by the Administration, whenever they so request, as to the progress of the procedures and cases in which they are directly interested, together with the right to be made aware of the definitive decisions that are taken in relation to them.
- Without prejudice to the law governing matters concerning internal and external security, criminal investigation and personal privacy, citizens also have the right of access to administrative files and records.
[…] 6. For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2) the law shall lay down a maximum time limit for responses by the Administration."[119]
The rule enshrined in Art. 268, par. (2) of the Constitution is known as the “principle of open Administration”[120] and it is regulated by Law no. 26/2016 (Lei n.º 26/2016, de 22 de Agosto [121]) which also enacts into national law the European Directives no. 2003/4/EC and 2003/98/EC. Art. 15 of this law requires public entities to respond to each request within 10 days and the law’s Chapter 3 created an independent watchdog to keep track of compliance with its rules, the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (Comissão de Acesso aos Documentos Administrativos).
based on which we should be able to retrieve the stats as well as exactly how far along the backlog the AIMA is (like how many more apps left in Dec 2021 pile for preapproval or just how many workers are working on the ARI). Could someone with more knowledge about this please comment on if this is possible and how to go about it?
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Looks to be similar to a FOIA request in the USA. I’m not sure how it works in practice in Portugal, however.
The Portuguese Constitution protects Portuguese rights and we are not Portuguese citizens 
I guess there aren’t any Portuguese citizens in the world who could file a request. Thanks for keeping Icarus from flying too close to the sun.
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I highly doubt that you have to show a citizenship card to get this information. Ask for it and see what happens.
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Just ask a lawyer who is a Portuguese citizen.
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While lawyers are claiming that Lisbon AIMA is processing biometric appointments of September 2022, I believe there are some applicants who had biometrics in August 2022 who have still not received final approval.
Do we need to make a petition to the head of AIMA to get the approval process moving which has been stuck since July, 2023. That was much before the changeover from SEF to AIMA which happened only recently in October 2023.
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Im one of the folks who is stuck in the Aug 22 Lisbon Bio. I applied mid 2021 so I am quickly approaching 2.5 years. All I know, is that they are aware of my file for a long while, atleast since early Aug 23 when they asked for updated documents, and for a while I have been in the final stage. Though there are some lawyer claims that they have moved to September 22 Lisbon Bio, I havent heard of a single person in this forum or others who have claimed receiving their final approvals for a long long while.
Does anyone have any clue or privy to the reason of this complete blockage, even in drips of any sort of approvals? SEF—> AIMA transition, Faulty IT and/or payment systems, Lack of senior officials to give that final approval stamp?
Are the other categories such as D7/D8 etc getting approvals?
Feels like walking for a long while in a tunnel with no end, thus would appreciate any kind of input!
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Exact same schedule as you: mid 2021 application and August 2022 Lisbon biometrics. Have not had any requests for anything.
Dont have much insight for you but spoke to one of my firm’s attorneys yesterday and she said she recently had an appointment for a client’s D7 (I think she said the appt was in Aveiro) and was told by the AIMA person that she expected things to continue like this for some time as the agency restructures and all visas continue to be delayed.
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There were final approvals reported here after the law change, but I think I may have only seen perhaps 1 since the switch to AIMA. My lawyer says the delay is due to this change.
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For logging purposes - today the 13th of December, my lawyers submitted my lawsuit for immediate issuance of my residence visa, we’ll see how it goes
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Maybe there are no new statistics to report! Seems like pre approvals have stopped completely.
Thank you for sharing the info. Kindly do keep us updated on developments as they happen. Thanks🙏
Igualmente!
Hi Guys,
Wondering if anyone has seen any new approvals from Porto in the last couple of months?
Also, wondering if the old SEF Emails are still operational, or if there is a new email id for the new organization, specifically Porto. Thanks