Unless I am missing something, given the new law passage, isn’t it now better for there to be more delays (unless you need to move there)? You will have fewer years where you need to spend two weeks in country till you can apply for citizenship?
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Depends on if you want to spend more time in Portugal than you can otherwise
That is my thought as long as you do not want to start living in Portugal immediately, with the caveats that
- The law does work as we hope with the 5 year clock starting at application time
- You do receive approval with cards in hand by the five year anniversary of application time so no time is actually lost and the requirement to actually be approved is met.
Some unexpectedly good news to share. My wife and daughter, who did their bio-metrics in Lisbon in May 2023, have just had their final approval and I have been asked to pay the (exorbitant) card issuance fee. This would seem to confirm that family reunification is moving ahead faster than final approvals for main applicants. (Ive held my first card since July 2022).
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Or indeed if you just want to travel freely in Schengen for more than 90 days at a time (leaving through PT)
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Can you share the fee?
Just paid spouse’s on March 15 and paid 6,045.20 euro.
Yay! I received my final approval on 3 April and have got the reference number for the DUC payment of €6045.20 for my application. I believe that my spouse’s family reunion approval and DUC will follow after I have made payment which seems to be straightforward using the reference number on the Millennium Bank app.
We did our biometrics in Lisbon on 13 February 2023 and submitted an urgent summons against AIMA on December 23. We are not yet living in Portugal. The judge found in our favour on February 6. AIMA then asked for a new bank declaration from Millennium and for two irrelevant documents for my spouse which our lawyers pushed back on. We received email notification of my approval on 3 April. Our applications were submitted in week three of November 2021 which was just before the cataclysmic rush of December 2021 so this has taken just over 28 months including a successful summons.
To anyone thinking of applying for a GV, I can honestly say we wouldn’t have gone down this route if we knew then what we know now but I also know it continues to be worse for some people so I am thankful to our lawyers at CG for quite a decent job throughout.
Now, onwards to Stage 5.
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Congrats Rich! That’s fantastic news.
Looks like Lisbon is starting to move and is now eventually catching up with other places. Although, the lawsuit probably pushed things here as well.
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6,045.20 EUR each. I am hoping very much that their cards will have 2 years validity instead of 1.
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Seems like that party is over, no?
My expectation based on the most recent reports is that it will be for one year and we go through the rigmarole again in 12 months in April 2025. And probably again in 36 months in April 2027 even if we can apply for citizenship in November 2026. It’s better to have managed expectations than live with perpetual disappointment.
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Should have that disclaimer in large font on every PT GV advertisement 
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Have you updated the timeline sheet? The rest of us can take a little solace from the fact that a February 2023 Lisbon bio has turned green.
Actually, this just proves that they can work quickly, but choose not to.
Every time I feel like gritting my teeth at the speed of bureaucracy, I watch the following. Never fails to put a smile on my face.
Also read Absolument dé-bor-dée ! by Zoé Shepard. It’s in French, but I dare say there are English versions floating around
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Timeline updated now. I’ll make the payment later today.
This really does prove that the court summons is just a method to jump the queue. A long and very slow queue.
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Hi I’m 25 years old from Japan, and My father and I applied for the Golden Visa, and since then, we have been progressing slowly towards the biometric appointment. However, it has been 13 months without any update on the final payment or approval 
…
So I was wondering if anyone has any advice on it. I saw some people are filing their lawsuits. Did you have an excellent law firm working with you?
My father does not speak English well so I do all the work yet, I have come to the point where I have no hands to clap. I’d like to hear what you people have been through after the biometrical appointment.
Thank you!
I wish you will never experience the selective high efficiency or inefficiency as what bureaucracy did during the covid.
No one losing child will be found and no one positive testing will be missed.
After paying the DUC, is there any status update that happens on the SEF website for the card issuance?
We always knew that a lawsuit was just jumping the queue. What else could it be?
All that tells us is that if pushed by a court to act, AIMA is able to do so. It’s irrelevant to those of us who haven’t gone through the courts.