Sounds plausible but optimistic, knowing the bureaucracy 
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Not wanting to sound self-congratulatory, but my previous forecast about the biometrics reopening in June turned out just about right 
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I hope youāre a wizard! For all our sakes
Congratulations!
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Congratulations!|
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They do impact the timing. If something is out of date, the SEF agent reviewing the file will look at it, say āoops need updated docsā, send an email, and toss it back in the desk where it will sit until they receive the updated docs and it comes back out of the desk and gets tossed in queue for someone to think about it again. I lost a good two months to this - which is my own fault because I knew one doc was expired going in (but we didnāt have a choice), I figured we should be doing continuous renewal/fingerprint so the lawyer had a fresh copy to send immediately; the lawyer hoped itād just process anyway since they accepted it without comment in the first place but that felt far too optimisticā¦ but I didnāt and it took another good while to re-do it all and get the docs over.
Agreed our bureaucracy can be just as bad in different ways, depending on where you are and what it involves. But on the whole it seems more efficient - most interactions really donāt take that long, esp if you are partially out in the sticks where the DMV is a couple nice people in a small office handling the local area where nothing happens, for example, or itās all gone online and itās 2 minutes of typing; you might wait 2 months for your sticker but you donāt really care. It can go really badly wrong and take forever for something, but on the whole it doesnāt.
My wifeās permit finally processed and weāre just waiting for the card. Who knows how long thatāll be, but I no longer care and at least itās just the card printers, which is another whole group not part of SEF that I guess functions normally (it does all the various document printing for other gov agencies, from what i understand).
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Yea, I understand the optimism. The frustrating thing is the birth certificate. I ended up ordering two from different services. Both just go to the state to get something that never changes. One was saying three months, the other 45 days. Absolutely ridiculous.
Yeah, that shitās a rip sometimes.
My birth county asks you to send in a form, and a nice lady calls you to get a CC number to charge you $10 for your certified copy which is chunked out instantly.
We canāt even get my wifeās - the county she was born in outsources it to some third party service that charges like $70, and instead of calling if thereās a problem, charges you $70 to send you a notice saying āwe couldnāt find itā, and the county doesnāt even provide a phone number to call, weād have to drive there. F-ers. Fortunately EOD we didnāt need it since Iām the primary and the marriage cert was enough - and we were married in the same county so I just asked the same nice lady to send a copy of that too.
Then the state takes 5 weeks to apostille the thing but thatās a whole other matter, but at least itās consistent at this point.
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Yea, Iām only dealing with a 16 yo cert, but they donāt tell you 90 days until after you order. If you go to vital records and whatever department apostilles yourself by appointment, you can do same day, but thatās a day, maybe a day and a half burned (which is at the point Iām at).
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I had the opposite experience at Coimbra in March. Just waited for 15/20 minutes while my lawyer was upstairs in the room with the SEF official. When I was called in, it hardly took a few minutes for me to sign a few documents, give my bio-metrics and let them take a photograph. My application was FULLY SUBMITTED two weeks later after all documents were submitted. I then received my approval last week and now await card printing and delivery.
I think the firm you hire and your lawyers play a big part in making sure you are well taken care of. The choice of the SEF office is therefore also significant.
Lastly, unless and until your application is fully submitted with all documents, your processing period will be delayed.
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Lots of relevant discussion in the thread here: HOWTO: SEF Account setup to allow your lawyer AND you to access the account
In my case, before submitting, I asked my lawyer if I can get access to my application and they created a login for me. I did not have to do anything. My understanding is you have to do this before you submit the application.
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Got it. Thank you.
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Confirming this account of the Lisbon SEF office. I just had my appointment today (July 22) and though I arrived with my lawyer 15 minutes early for the 10:30am appointment, I sat on the steps outside for about 2.5 hours before getting called in for 3 minutes to take a photo and provide fingerprints/signature. If anyone else has a Lisbon appointment in the near future definitely bring water and perhaps a small cushion or blanket to sit on as that would have made the wait a bit more comfortable.
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That is helpful as I have my appointment in Lisbon a month from now!
Was your lawyer waiting in the steps with you or did s/he go in before you?
Did you interact with the officer or was everything handled by your lawyer?
If you went with family members, did you all go in together?
Thanks!
My lawyer went inside while I waited outside and she dealt with the whole process. My only interaction with the officer was when she directed me to look into the camera for my photo and instructed me to put my fingers on the scanner. I did not go with family members (solo applicant) but another gentleman who I spoke with was there from Hong Kong with his wife and two children, and I believe he went in first with his lawyer by himself and then his wife and children went in together after that. Iām sure your lawyer would be able to provide those details as well in advance of your appointment if you ask.
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Of those who applied in Q4 '21 and have the Pre-approval get invitation to apply for appointment for Biometrics?
So only those applying before October 2021 have been invited for biometrics so far.
Golden Visa investment up 33% - The Portugal News
30 golden visas were granted to China, 30 to the US, 14 to Turkey, 11 to India and 10 to Brazil.
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We just received a pre-approval email from our lawyer.
Original application date: November 23, 2021
Spouse and children: 25 November 2021
Pre-approval: July 22, 2022
Also, our lawyer, by the end of the summer, the government will offer a solution for these long waits.
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Fantastic news, love to hear it
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