Many of us who have already submitted citizenship applications are experiencing excessive delays. There doesn’t seem to be a topic where this can be discussed, so I’m going to dump what I know here, but I’m also hoping someone has stumbled on the secret to moving things along!
Some of the delays are because of capacity issues, which has been IRN’s stock defence when taken to court. But this is only true for particular IRNs ~ in yet another fine example of Portuguese administrative efficiency, applications are not evenly (re)distributed between IRNs, with the result that eg Braga and Guimarães are currently finishing in less than 2 years, while Porto is hitting 3+, and I’ve seen letters from Evora saying that they’re not processing anything until they get more capacity. The result is the usual arbitrariness and a caution to get up to date info on processing times before you submit. I’ll post the latest ones I have for ACP/Porto (Sept) and CRC/Lisbon (Oct) below.
The other big issue coming up is that AIMA is not responding to the IRNs’ requests for confirmation about residence time. In my own case that request was made more than 6 months ago, and I’ve been told directly by the IRN that it is the only thing outstanding. FWIW the contagem de tempo is useless for this purpose - they will still require AIMA to go through the same process (apparently its only utility is if you’re not sure about time).
When we applied in Mar we were told the process would take 24-29 mos. I also follow a Brazilian forum and based on that they appear to be clearing applications within that period.
It really does not matter to us as we spend a few mos a year in Lisbon (of choice) and for the rest we live where we have for decades.
If we wished to we could live in Portugal.
It is the only program left where you can ‘citizenize’ with never having spent time there.
Good idea for this thread. We applied with IRN just a few weeks ago so are right at the start of this long process. My lawyer said the initial review of documents is actually done by AI but even that is taking months
Even less transparency in decision-making, but possibly less arbitrariness? I’m not too optimistic about their ability to use tech to sort out the backlogs, judged on past performance. Hope you applied at one of the more efficient IRNs!
Porto, but I don’t think we had a choice. That seems to be where applications go if submitted by a lawyer online. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
My lawyer said that citizenship applications have been taking three years from start to finish. By the time the Manifestação applicants have completely clogged the queue, I’m expecting the timeline to lengthen to five years or more.
Not saying this is good or acceptable, but it’s not unprecedented. Many countries, current and past, have had citizenship processing timelines stretch into the range of 2-4 years.
What is unconscionable and unique to Portugal, to my knowledge, is the 3-5 year timeline to obtain a residence card.
The main cause of the clogging is that Aima continues not answering the request sent by IRN. Not 99% but exactly 100% of applicants via article 6.1 are stuck at Aima confirmation step.
So no matter how we run away from it, we still have to face Aima indirectly when applying for citizenship. Aima controls how many resident cards/year in Portugal and they also control how many of them will get citizenship. It is even worst with citizenship’s process because applicants cannot ask or request Aima how much time it would take. So it is just another lottery game.
I agree that the residence card situation is unconscionable. At heart though I think the issue with both residency and citizenship is the same: legal certainty and administrative fairness. When I submitted (having survived my own share of residency drama) our lawyers were saying 12-18 months. So I didn’t apply for PR when I renewed later that year. Here I am nearly 3 years later preparing for another renewal! The unfairness lies in the fact that like is not treated as like. Right now Guimaraes, for example, is processing the exact same application that is taking 3+ years at Porto and Lisbon in 14-18 months. And, as @live2learn points out, for many people AIMA’s confirmation of time spent in PT is the only thing outstanding, but there seems to be no way to force them to do their bit in a process that “belongs” to IRN.
If it takes aima 3 years or even more to assign biomentric appointments to GV applicants, it makes 100% sense that they need 3-5 years to confirm a simple answer.
Aima knows exactly what happens next if they answer or confirm the time of residency to IRN. The only reason that they have not answered is because they do not want many people to obtain citizenship.
There are lots of unwritten rules within government’s offices. Maybe the reason of why Aima is not giving answer/confirmation to IRN could possibly be “social equity”… maybe in few years, we might hear it from the mouth of Aima’s director.
they are doing this intentionally so that they can keep changing the laws before handing out citizenship. its just another money making tactic designed to hurt people who they dont actually want in the country.
maybe in few years, we might hear it from the mouth of Aima’s director.