Yes, you are probably right; however, I am trying to see if there is any correlation between any of the dates and the final approval.
There is nothing complicated about our case either, and my wife’s passport has also been renewed during the near three-year wait. Still, so far not much movement, even though we finally filed a court case in mid-May.
Congratulations again.
That’s very suspicious. Did you pay your final $6k?
If so, is it possible they sent the cards and they have been lost in the mail??
I agree with Selina, I’d file a law suit just to get them to look at it. Or walk into AIMA and ask if they issued the cards and if so where were they sent?
There is some new developments with final approvals. Rumor is that at biometrics appointment, AIMA no longer checking all documents and only reviewing passport itself , at least for some residency types. It’s possible they are checking things outside of the biometrics appointment. optimistic that this will make things go faster.
This is information about someone that probably came to portugal on visit visa and stayed back .
You can see their timelines
I saw this on Facebook group i am on.
আলহামদুলিল্লাহ পর্তোগাল আসার ৭ মাসের মধ্যেই রেসিডেন্স কার্ড হাতে পেলাম।
portugal entry 11 Feb 2024
Sef entry 05 April 2024
Finger 12 August 2024
Card issue 28 August 2024
Card received 09 September 2024
Sef : portima ( 5 tax)
Ligel entry, Court case
so my daughters card for some reason was sent back to AIMA Lisbon, even though we all had some lawyers office address, we contacted the lawyer who reached out to AIMA Lisbon and confirmed that this was returned back to AIMA office, the lawyer office went and collected the same from them and received it. So there are chances that if its taken a long time this might have happened .
Even I paid € 6045.20(primary) as the DUC, I did not want to bother much and waste more time with AIMA.
Want to get this over with.
AIMA/SEF seems to be taking care of those coming to Portugal for manual/physical Labor work, and even illegal entry folks are regularized and given TRC in 6 or 7 months (since their legal/illegal entry).
I am in certain facebook groups that have lots of south Asian crowd, the timelines they post are absolutely shocking, compared to our timelines.
There is no terminologies like pre approval or anything. Start to finish 4 to 7 months.
It is interesting that the ARI Holders and Biometrics threads are hopping with activity, and not a peep on the Final Approval thread (don’t think there has been any real progress for 5-6 months), like the Pre-approval one (though that one makes sense - who in their right mind would be applying for pre-approval now)…
I got a DUC (lawsuit, filed in december) which I paid at the beginning of July. No word since on card (or my wife’s DUC!)
shrug. I’m still waiting on my renewal card to be issued too (despite approval). So lots of stuff bunged up. Maybe they ran out of plastic blanks 
I’m not super fussed about it, I’ll wait out the clock on citizenship application
On Friday, I received an email thru my attorney from AIMA saying “Informa se que o titulo encontra- se em emissao” which basically translates to they are issuing me my card.
Has anyone else received one of these, and if so, how long after receiving the email did the card arrive? Should I put the champagne on ice yet?
Property Purchased: April 2021
Application Accepted: August 2021
Pre Approval: March 2022
Biometrics: Oct 2022 Lisbon
Final Approval: August 13, 2024
*My wife has not had her biometrics appointment yet, though the lawyers continue to ask AIMA to expedite this.
Received final approval today. What a journey.
Applied September 2021,
Biometrics March 2023 in Lisbon,
Lawsuit filed April 2024,
Lawsuit won August 2024, AIMA given 20 business days,
Approved today, September 2024.
We paid end of July and haven’t received the card yet, so congratulations on crossing that hurdle!
[Update to our timeline…
Husband did biometrics in Faro on 1st August 2023, under Family reunification application. We heard that he was approved yesterday, (eight weeks after my confirmation of approval) and we have paid his DUC. Now just awaiting both cards. Haven’t heard anything about my card as yet.
Full details of our timeline are in this link…
(Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4) - #1890 by orangeblossom)
My husband also did his biometrics in Faro in August 2023 under family reunification, still waiting approval. My card was approved and paid in June, and received in August. I did biometrics in Coimbra in Feb 2023.
Hopefully this means there’s movement in Faro, fingers crossed!
My lawyer received my residence card today. 3 months after paying the DUC fees. Timeline: Main view — Crowdsourced Golden Visa Timeline Database by Nomad Gate
Update - finally some good news! Both of us approved last week! (No lawsuit)
Timeline:
July 26, 2021 - GV by fund (Rock Capital) investment funded
October 26, 2021 - pre-approval from SEF
September 1 & 2, 2022 - biometrics appointments in Lisbon
April 26, 2024 - AIMA asks for updated proof of investment
June 25, 2024 - after exhaustive efforts, Santander Bank (the custodian of our investment) FINALLY provides the Declaração and our lawyer forwards it to AIMA
September 18, 2024 - final approval for both of us (main applicant & spouse)
September 19, 2024 - paid 6,045.20€ for main applicant
Our lawyer says that once AIMA confirms receipt of that payment, we will be able to pay my fee also.
Thanks Chris! Yeah, it’s been a long journey. 
To summarize the data in the Lisbon chart, the average time from biometrics to final approval for applicants who have reported obtaining approval (green rows) is:
Sep - Dec 21 biometrics – ~6 months to final approval
Jan - Jul 22 biometrics – ~10 months to final approval
Aug 22 biometrics – ~18 months to final approval
Sep-Oct 22 biometrics – ~21 months to final approval
