I will ask my lawyer too and see if they have heard anything on this.
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Probably depends on your contract. Iāve asked for mine back because I believe they misled me during their sales pitch, or at the very least withheld material information that SEF was not even accepting applications. For example, how can you provide me a timeline of when I will submit my application and when it will get pre-approved, if they are not even being accepted! Of course they said no refunds. I really donāt know what to doā¦Iām thinking I might just be a very ādiscerningā client and look at lots of investments and ask for intros to lots of lawyers and then just not invest to make them work more, lol.
The company I went with claimed is registered with the SEC, so I might lodge a complaint there, not that it will achieve anything, but maybe cause some hassles for them. Who did you give a fee to?
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We had a meeting with our firm this week and they told us that finally SEF is starting to take New golden visa applications. Has anyone else heard any of this. It seems they started a few days ago and that older applications will take priority for biometrics. Any thoughts. This sounds promising??
If you have any articles please postš
Mayra, there are quite a few recent posts about this on various threads.
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Thanks Carolyn! I actually started the process last October when the SEF had no submission issue so might be trickier.
What do you mean by them being āregistered with the SEFā? I would guess none of these immigration agencies would be regulated by the SEF but I could be wrong? Do they need a license to perform business?
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Not SEF, but SEC - Securities Exchange Commission Itās the US securities regulator. The company I hired said they were an US investment advisory firm, based in Miami, thus subject to all these fiduciary rules and would help me choose the best investment for the GV and facilitate the process, do translations, keep on top of the lawyers they engage, etc. Of course, they tell me a week or so later that SEF is not taking applications and claimed they did not know (and the sky is not blue right, lol?). I forget the details now, but they are registered with the SEC so subject to some rules. Iām not an expert so I donāt know if lying during your sales pitch is against the rules, but I might lodge a complaint anyways. It is definitely shady. Good luck, sounds like investors need it!
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If they are SEC registered as a fiduciary then by all means go after them. It might have legs. You cannot materially misrepresent, and anyone with a modicum of acumen can find published news articles dating back quite a whilw that things have been slow / etc so āwe didnāt knowā does not realistically fly.
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Thatās what Iām thinking, it looks like there are a couple federal and state avenues to make a complaint. Iām sure theyāve figured out a way to shield themselves from liability, but itās worth a try!
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āYou might be right, and hence my advice is to ātake it for what it is worth to youā. Yes, I can certainly join the chorus of pessimists and condemn myself to a miserable wait, or I can just accept the local peculiarities and roll with the punches. I am also frustrated with the slow pace, but I donāt want those feeling to overwhelm or cloud my judgement or alter my goals.ā
This. We wonāt change the system. Keep expectations low, follow the process, in the end it will work.
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I have been doing exactly this with the US immigration system. For over a decade. Keep expectations low, follow the process. Things didnāt improve. I donāt think this applies to something like Portugal GV and donāt agree with the sentiment that one should just be patient for someone to get off their ass to do what theyāre supposed to do.
The reason I ever applied for GV is due to the promise of fast tracked timeline by law. And when you take into account that all other Portuguese immigration statuses like D7/D2/Long-Short-Stay are being issued without any delays Iām not sure I can necessarily just sit there and take it. Think about the demographic - investing at least ā¬250k while ākeeping expectations lowā is not the mantra that most people can adopt unfortunately.
āchorus of pessimistsā is one way of venting my frustration and commiserating with others who may feel the same way. In turn if some of this noise makes its way to the right ears, Iāll take that as a positive.
What isnāt going to change anything is sitting idle, in our own passive positive thoughts and hoping for the best.
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Ah I see! Yes definitely go for it since they are actually in a highly regulated industry! unlike the immigration/real estate agencies in Porto 
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Finally got pre-approved
Application date: 16 Nov 2021
Approval date: 21st Jun 2022
Type: Application for individual person
I hope things are moving further for everyone else who has been waiting a while for pre-approval and next steps.
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Great news! Probably an indication that things are moving along again, this may have been one of the first approvals in the past few weeks.
If you havenāt already please update this tracking sheet that one of the members created Awaiting Pre-Approval (Stage 2) - #229 by loheiman
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Absolutely . I went ahead and asked for edit access to the sheet and will place it in.
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This isnāt super relevant to this forum but I couldnāt find a better place to ask this. Are you actually free to move to Portugal once you receive pre-approval (like it says here: What On Earth is Going On with SEF Appointments? | Nomad Gate)?
Our lawyer said we were
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Good news. And you use the pre-approval papers to travel in and out of the country and show your legal status?
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Good news here! Applied on November 17 and finally received pre-approval yesterday, June 27. Iāve asked for edit access to the spreadsheet so I can update. Hope this gives some hope to others still waiting.
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Congratulations! Are you also able to get a biometric appointment?
The lawyers said that will be coming next - I havenāt connected with them yet to hear about their estimate, but based on others here Iām guessing it will still be a few months before biometrics.
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