According to what I hear from my lawyers; these days they are receiving approvals for their clients who had their biometrics done in January 2022 so you should receive it within a month or so if the process continues running at the same speed.
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Thank you for your information. It is utterly unreasonable. Now I have been waiting for more than 9.5 months after my biometric at Lisbon SEF but still got no news at all. Anyone here who did the biometric in Lisbon in Feb or March got the final approval?
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I really hope so. My lawyer said it would take 6 months to get the final approval in February but now more than 9.5 months passed but still no news at all.
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Our family of 6 did biometrics in Lisbon in June… We were told 5-8 months for the acceptance. We wait patiently!
Keep us up-to date of any data points! Good luck!
I have heard from a few sources that SEF is prioritizing UK Nationals until the end of the year.
I dont know if its true.
I would love to think this was true! But I can’t think why they would do this.
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I don’t know. Here is one article about it:
[quote= "As the end of the year approaches, SEF is frantically attempting to get together everything they need to issue Brits with new residency cards – which has meant that a large number of people have travelled to Lisbon to complete this process.
[/quote]
It’s nothing to do with GV, if you read the article.
I didn’t say it had anything to do with GV. I made the comment that SEF is busy with processing UK residents before end of year deadline. There are many points of contact from SEF about this. SEF is in the middle of transition and already stretched thin. If SEF is preoccupied with UK nationals, they likely are slowed down with GV processing.
For example, this:
If you are a UK national living in Portugal and have already been notified by SEF to provide your biometric data, know that the attendance has been decentralized in order to speed up the process.
Altogether, there are 23 bureau services available, from north to south of the country and islands, with previous booking.
If you can’t or you don’t wish to move outside your residence area, SEF will notify you again.
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Lisbon office for me too, my biometric appointment was in June, still waiting.
10 months for me now after Lisbon biometrics, still no news at all!
I don’t know what to think about this. James had biometrics right after me, but my card was issued in 7 months. His is more than 10 months of waiting. nothing makes any sense or logic. My theory is that things will pick up again in January after the new agency takes over. Until then…
You see this same pattern over and over again. SEF prioritizes GV, then some emergency comes along (e.g., Ukraine, UK citizens, etc) and they turn their entire attention that then, then they shift back to processing GV, etc, etc, etc.
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It is utterly ridiculous! I think SEF should at least let us know how long we have to wait further. I got the online pre-approval in August 2020! If they had told the applicants they would have to wait such a long time, say more than 2.5-3 years to get the residency cards, people could choose to apply the GV or not. I asked my lawyer to request my application progress, hope that they can say something definite! I think we deserve an answer after such a long wait!!
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Just an excerpt from the law:
"Article 82
Decision and notification
- The application for a residence permit shall be decided within 60 days.
- The application for renewing a residence permit shall be decided within 30 days.
- In the absence of a decision within the period provided for in the preceding paragraph, for reasons that are not attributable to the applicant, the decision is considered favorable, and the residence title immediately issued.
- A decision rejecting the application shall be communicated to the applicant, informing the grounds for refusal, as well as the right to appeal and respective time limit for that action, and a copy shall be sent to the Advisory Council."
https://www.sef.pt/en/Documents/LeideImig(Lei29_2012)EN.pdf
The investor is also entitled to ask for a certificate of pendency in order to understand the status of his process.
Probably those who’s been waiting for too long should do it…
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Yes its ridiculous . I got pre-approval in Feb 2021 and Bio in Feb 2022 .I got my first card with family in Aug 1 2022
I did my Bio in Coimbra. Its Its Mystery how SEF work
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We have now used Figuera da Foz (8 mos); Coimbra (3 mos) and Guarda (5 and counting).
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Lisbon SEF always takes longer than other SEFs. 
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Do you know anyone who has successfully utilized that article?
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Unfortunately no. Going to ask my lawyer to officially request the status as soon as 60 days pass and see what they say in response.
I have never seen any reference to this article here on forum. It looks like nobody tried to challenge SEF before and if tried then never shared his experience.
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