Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4)

Super big congratulations, and thanks for the update! Once the card is actually issued, would you share the issuance and (as others have already asked) expiration dates? We are on a very, very similar timeline to you, just a bit behind, so that would be helpful in terms of knowing how to schedule our 7 days for Year 1! (Applied Nov 2021, Bios for family and prime in Porto and Lisbon Jan/Feb 2023, first lawsuit failed but resubmitted in January with a favorable decision published earlier this week.)

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It says so on the page where I paid the DUC fee.

23-03-2024 01-04-2024 6 045,20 € Concessão/Granting

I made the main applicant’s payment on 26.03.24, but my wife’s and children’s DUC payments have not been created in the system yet. I think this situation is specific to Coimbra. With Lisboa approvals, DUC are created for other family members within several days.

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Seems like things have gone back to a crawl. it’s back to being over a month since I paid the DUC and no sign of a card yet.

It sucks we have to do that (lawsuit) which impacts others but everyone has a timeline and a plan. I’m amazed at how slow they are… truthfully they make the French seem fast.

“I jumped the queue because faster is better” :joy:

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So here’s the final timeline of our case, that took over 3 years to complete:

  1. December 2020 - initial application
  2. August 2021 - biometrics in Lisbon
  3. February 2023 - lawsuit filed
  4. October 2023 - court decision in our favour
  5. November 2023 - main applicant card paid
  6. January 2024 - wife’s card paid
  7. February 2024 - wife’s card received (2 weeks after payment). Issued in Feb, valid for 2 years.
  8. March 2024 - main applicant’s card received (after several rounds of unreplied emails to AIMA and the PM office, and preparation for going to the court again). The card issue date is December 15, 2023, meaning that my card was hanging out somewhere for over 3 months. Valid for 2 years.

*living in Portugal since 2021. Our case was additionally complicated thanks to me being Russia / Israeli and my wife being Belorussian (we applied with Russian and Belorussian passports).

Good luck to anyone still waiting. If you are lucky enought to have a Russian passport, my suggestions is not to wait for a miracle, and just go to the court.

*just updated the timeline file and set a record for the wait time from biometrics to final approval :man_facepalming:

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Congratulations for finally prevailing! :clap: Good to see that the lawsuit eventually did the trick and your card finally found its way to you.

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Thank you so much for the update, and also for including the issue dates for your cards!

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Finally received my wife’s Final approval from Porto.

	• Application Date: 1st June 2022 (Additional Applicant)
	• Biometrics: 21st Aug 2023
	• Final Approval: 10th Apr 2024

Also heard of a few other Porto approvals in a WA Group, so looks like Porto is still moving and ahead of other places.

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Just a small update, my lawyer has just received my card.
Got the card in a bit less than a month and a half.
Also for those wondering, the validity of the card is 2 years

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Interesting that your card is 2 years. What date was your final approval? I’m wondering what the change date from 2 to 1 years was.

I got my approval on the 26th of Feb 2024 and 26 th March 2026 is the expiry date written on the card.

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Yesterday we got the DUC notification for my spouse just four working days after I paid my own DUC. Our applications have progressed in parallel since the original submission. Here’s the full timeline for those interested:

Application (main + family reunification): 16 November 2021
Pre-Approval: 22 June 2022
Biometrics (Lisbon): 13 February 2023
Summons Filed: 24 December 2023
Judge Ruled: 6 February 2024
DUC issued €6045,20 (main applicant): 3 April 2024
Payment made (main applicant): 5 April 2024
DUC issued €6045,20 (family reunification): 11 April 2024
Payment made (family reunification): 12 April 2024

We now await our residency cards with bated breath. Will they be for one or two years? The excitement is almost unbearable.

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Great news and congrats Rich! Our dates are almost Identical till the biometrics, and the only difference is that I did my Biometrics at Porto and saved a bit of time there.

So grateful for you taking the time to keep us updated, and with this great level of detail! Thank you so much!

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Update.
Wife was approved on 2 Feb
Card has been issued, dated 18 March, for 2 years.
Oddly, 28th March we all flew to Lisbon and Funchal for a fab holiday.

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your location of biometrics?

Good to know. I can be cautiously optimistic that my card shows up sometime in the next couple of weeks since my approval was a few days before yours.

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Her biometrics were Funchal, March 2023