I went through the delays myself, and I totally understand many of your frustrations. Opaqueness of appointments, insanely slow processing times, and frankly a feeling of total disempowerment with the process.
I can see that there should be some way to exert influence especially for those who have invested a sizable chunk of their savings in the program. Even more so for people who are applying not for a lifestyle change but for a passport that does not make them feel like they are not welcome in much of world (Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, etc.)
That all being said, unfortunately, I would also think that optics of publishing a piece about this and bringing attention to this issue would do more harm than good. It would be spun in all kind of ways that would not be flattering to the people affected (many of us here).
Additionally, the Portuguese government is wrestling with balancing attracting FDI/talent through GV/D7 with the rising cost of living/rents + stagnant rise in real wages. I canāt tell you how many times I go out in Lisbon and here people tell me how they are making 700EUR and rents are around 1000EUR. I sense this could lead to some backlash and this article will definitely exacerbate this already clear and present issue in Portuguese governmentās eyes.
I say all this now but Iāll have to do renewal myself soon. I just will have to throw my hands up and do what I always doā¦say āThis is Portugal(TIP)āā¦and laugh so I donāt cry.
this was the money quote from recent article about SEF extinction. It means I think that nothing you do will matterā¦ its a manner of protest.
While the extinction/ restructuring remains unresolved/pending, thousands of applications for all kinds of bureaucratic details remain locked in the system, with people even unable to access SEFās website, while issues at the countryās various airports are already well documented.
of course we can and should do something. If the media makes more noise, the lawyers and agents can cite the media when they lobby the government. if we stage some protest, again that would help those insiders who support us to make an argument. if we sit here doing nothing, we send a strong message to the Portuguese gov that we are quite indifferent.
we are already in such a horrible situation, I would not worry about possible negative consequences. come on. it is so hard to let our voices heard in the media. even if we manage to make some noise in media, it would be small noisy anyway.
Here is how I think; I believe there is nothing wrong to voice whatās happening or better to say whatās not happening as long as an objective fact based perspective is maintained.
There is freedom of speech and press so as long as one maintains a constructive respectful fact based articulation of this matter it should be fine. Afterall with increasing WoM (word of mouth) and the recent articles, the matter is already public.
On the other hand, yes EU is not happy with GV schemes but its focus is mostly the CIPs (Citizenship by Investment Programs of Malta + Cyprus which ended its CIP) yet GV is not a CIP and as long as the GV program remains in place, the legistlation should be followed. From what I hear there is not a de-facto āfreezeā in other GV programs namely Greece or Spain so I donāt thing this is the main cause of the āfreezeā
So what has changed, why might there be a need to raise the concern.
Previously COVID was an excuse for much of the 2020-21 and Ukraine crises might be for the 1Q 2022, but I think these are no longer Force Majeures in the way they were in todayās world. Therefore as a part of the fair treatment approach (which is emphasized by SEF) and the legistlative guidance, there is nothing wrong for us to ask for GVs to be processed in line with the timelines stated in the law and raise the concern when we see no actionā¦
I wasnāt referring to EU stepping in, but was implying that due to the rules & legislations set, there needs to be a (local) action taken. In the legistlation there is actually a timeline for process which is 3 months. Clearly it is not getting implemented yet this is actually stated in the legistlation.
Okay, iāve started contacting publications, including The Portugal Resident, The Portugal News, IMI Daily and Schengenvisainfo. Please let me know if you have suggestions for others. This is what I emailed them:
Hi,
I have a story for you that I thought youād appreciate as the your publication regularly reports reports on the Portugal Golden visa program
I am one of many investors in Portugal that have invested several hundred thousand euros and are waiting for the Portuguese government (SEF) to process our resident permits in return. Iāve personally been waiting since August 2021 but many have been waiting for more than a year. Iāve created a survey that has collected 80 responses so far. You can see that the median wait time is 1.3 years and some applicants have been waiting over 2 years. The result of this delay is that investors who wish to move to Portugal are unable to and those that intend to obtain citizenship after 5 years of residency are therefore having the start of that 5 year clock significantly delayed.
You can read more about the issue on a popular discussion forum for the matter. Examples:
I have many contacts that could be useful for comments including investors, attorneys who help submit applications, investment fund managers and bank representatives that facilitate the investments.
I just saw this new article of Imidaily. Many of the points stated in the article are already well known by many nomads here but still it is good to see the problem being spelled out so clearly.
@Mr.E This article is interesting but it implies that the only problem is the current stoppage of new applications. That issue is obviously the main concern for the āindustryā because it prevents them from bringing in new money and fees, but the rest of the article refers to attempts to communicate with SEF going back to early 2021, which was long before the stoppage. There are no anecdotes from actual applicants who have been waiting over 2 years and cannot get an answer from SEF. That is the real crisis in my opinion. You can ask @live2learn@mohammadreza (waiting about 825 days) and others about this. Therefore, this article does not squarely address the real problems with the ARI program.
By the way, this is rhetorical, as I know you didnāt write the article.
Hi There, thanks for creating this spreadsheet and getting the word out about these frustrating delays. FYI Iāve submitted the google form to add our info to the data but iām not seeing it show upāI thought I did it a few weeks ago and so just tried again this morning. Not sure if it gets āapprovedā or if others are having this issue? I just skipped all the questions for which I donāt have dates. Our application was submitted Dec 2020 and pre-approval received Mar 2, 2021. Still no biometrics. Thanks!
