Great to hear that. I’m happy for you.
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Is anyone is working with their lawyer to sue SEF to get their applications through? My attorney is currently preparing to do so for me and a number of her other clients, based upon the reported success of an English citizen several months ago. I’m curious if anyone is in the same boat and if so, what to expect.
Here’s the article on the original case for those of you who missed it: English Golden Visa investor beats SEF in court - The Portugal News
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Would love to know who is your attorney? I asked our lawyers about the case from the Portugal news and they told me they weren’t sure it was true. Every time I ask our lawyers if they’re trying to do anything on behalf of their clients, I get no answer.
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Mine said something along the lines of that there were possibly some factors in this case which were particular, and hence once shouldn’t believe it would generalise.
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I’m very interested to hear that your lawyer may be taking action on behalf of yourself and other clients. I was in Portugal last week and raised this potential action with my lawyer. She is researching the possibility but I have not heard back from her yet with any details.
I am curious though as to who will pay for the legal costs associated with suing SEF, and how much this will likely cost? I wonder - has your lawyer outlined this to you, and if so, would you mind sharing?
The other question which occurs to me is : If you are successful, will SEF be instructed to cover your legal costs?
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Also very interested, please ping me when we get more info @mgotuaco
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Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of information to share. I’d reached out to my lawyer back in Aug/Sept after I’d read about the initial lawsuit asking to confirm the facts of the original case and to see if she were planning to file similar suits against SEF. At the time, she confirmed that they were indeed successful and that she was looking into possible options. I heard from her again last month saying she’d partnered with a litigation attorney and was preparing to pursue court action for clients interested in participating. These would be individual lawsuits, not a class action. As one might expect there is an additional fee associated with this to cover legal expenses. I do not know if the government would cover these if we were to succeed. While she wasn’t specific, I got the impression that she’d signed 20+ clients up with her initial attempt, including those going through the renewal process and experiencing similiar lengthy delays. My patience, like many of yours, is wearing thin, so I’m planning to roll the dice and try this route but really have no idea how effective this will be.
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Thank you for sharing this information, although I am disappointed to hear that there isn’t a class action case currently against the SEF. Could you please ask your lawyer why there isn’t a class action case. Could it be that it is more difficult to file a class action case in Portugal?
My initial reaction is that 20+ individual lawsuits filed simultaneously from the same or different firms might have a stronger impact than a class action suit. Of course, each individual lawsuit will have its own strengths and weaknesses, but that makes it even more complex and expensive for SEF to argue each one, which might prompt them into changing their procedures. Any individual suit which succeeds then becomes a potential precedent for subsequent ones. On the other hand, a class action suit might fail on a single technicality or a supposed general principle.
The latter is what has happened repeatedly in class action suits against the USA and other governments in relation to the insidious FATCA law which has made life hell for many Americans around the world.
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submitted 7 Dec 2021. Pre-approved 21 Nov 2022.
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Absolutely thrilled to hear things are moving again
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Mine (main applicant) was submitted on 6 December 2021 and pre-approved on 13 October 2022. My husband’s was submitted 3 days later (9 Dec 2021), but we are still waiting. It’s been almost a year. I see that others have mentioned “no movement” for the past few weeks. So reassuring to know that we are not alone. But WHY? What’s the hold up? I don’t understand it. Any ideas why? Thanks everyone.
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The sef doesn’t like investors so slow rolls the visas for them. Not much else to say
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Thanks. I wish I had known before applying. I think the companies promoting it need to warn about delays.
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If it makes you feel better, i applied even after knowing there would be huge delays and it’s worse than I expected haha
I’m not super upset though I’m not happy. The chance for a relatively easy second citizenship is worth it to me (it probably helps I went with an index fund rather than one of the investing companies)
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I bought a house in Castro Marim, which I’m pleased about, and hope to live there one day in the future. For the moment we use it for holidays.
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Some news from my lawyers (AGPC investments)
About the class action – some clients are exploring the option of moving forward regarding suing the Portuguese Government, however, only clients that have their residency card issued cannot renew their golden visa residency card since the renovation process is blocked since march 2020 or clients that have already move forward to the “waiting for the appointment moment” – only after this moment, SEF is obliged to fulfil their legal obligation to provide an appointment, or after the appointment to respect the deadline for issuing the cards (90 days).
The lawsuit known until this moment has taken 4 months to be processed by the courts and a due diligence period to prepare the lawsuit itself – facing that, and since we are seeing SEF speeding up some processes we haven’t moved forward with a class action lawsuit.
We have a client that is legally exploring this option and will present a lawsuit – but a Russian citizen due to the suspension of all golden visa processes related to Russian citizens, due to the government decision.
The latest information analyzed by the team –breaking news let’s say – it’s that the same attorney that won the process against SEF in August, has won, today another lawsuit against SEF – according to his most recent press release he states that the lawsuit was regarding a GV client in your situation – still on the analysis process and the court has decided that SEF must decide in 10 days, provide an appointment on the following 10 days and issue the card, if presenting all the documentation, 90 days after the appointment.
We do not have the legal decision yet to analyze and we’ll do it. Unfortunately, we cannot receive proper feedback regarding August’s case (the first case), because despite having the decision from Court, we do not know if (1) SEF has respected the court decision and the client had his appointment; or (2) if the attorney is now moving forward with another lawsuit to ask for compensation and to demand the court action. After all, SEF hasn’t fulfilled their obligation; (2) if the Portuguese State has appealed the court’s decision and if so, there’s no action required from SEF until the second court confirms the decision.
About the appointments and approval flow – we had 7 appointments for golden visa new investors since mid-September; we received one approval and the card in September; we are now delivering new documentation for 5 applications that will receive their cards in the following weeks, and we have around 6 clients waiting to book their appointments; unfortunately we haven’t received the OK from the analysis process since September. The process was speeding up in July and August.
I’ve asked a few more questions about the pre-approval lawsuits and will report back if there’s anything interesting
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I’m quite new to this, so thanks for this information. This cleared a lot of my misunderstandings. I was confused why I haven’t gotten an approval yet but seeing how everyone hasn’t gotten one as well helped quenched my restlessness.
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Joining @williamserna0628 i’m also new here and this forum really helps to reduce the stress levels regarding the waiting times and approvals processes 
keep up the posting
Again, I want to put things in perspective to those who are waiting half a lifetime for your pre-approvals. I first applied for the Golden Visa in early 2018. Yes, long before covid. Back when things were “normal”. My lawyer sold me on the promise that it would take 90 days. FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER, from the date of application, my wife and I were granted our biometrics appointments.
Imagine our frustration! No Covid or Ukrainian refugees for SEF to use as an excuse. It was purely lifting the finger to us allegedly rich, entitled investment visa applicants. Which of course it still is.
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