Hi all—U.S. applicant here applying for Portugal’s Golden Visa. I’m getting conflicting guidance and would appreciate recent, first-hand experiences.
Questions:
FBI background check timing (U.S. applicants)
Are applicants expected to obtain the FBI Identity History Summary twice:
a) once for initial AIMA submission, and then
b) again within 3 months of biometrics , with the second one apostilled?
Marriage certificate & children’s birth certificates
For initial AIMA submission, do these need to be apostilled at that stage, or can apostilled versions be supplied later (e.g., at biometrics / analysis stage)?
If apostilles are not required upfront, do the certificates still need to be recently issued for the initial submission, e.g., issued within the last 6–12 months and is that relative to biometrics appointment like for the FBI background check?
Context / what we have now:
We already have our marriage certificate and children’s birth certificates , but they were issued several years ago (not apostilled yet).
We can order new certified copies and apostilles if needed; just trying to time things so nothing “expires” during processing.
If you can share what worked for you, especially with AIMA’s current practice, and any recommendation your lawyer provided, that would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!
FBI background checks must be done within 90 days of submission and apostilled by US Secretary of State. Date runs from backgound check, not apostile date. Must be submitted with application. While there is a new system, you will most likely need new ones for biometrics appointment.
Birth and marriage certificates must be issued within 6 months of submission (someone please confirm). Must be apostilled. It’s unclear whether you will need to renew these for the biometrics. It’s unlikely, but it is better to have it an not need it than the other way around.
You will need new copies of marriage and birth certificates repeatedly, for application and biometrics appointments, as well as renewals. FBI reports are the most time sensitive, need to be refreshed and appostilled repeatedly.
Unfortunately old birth/marriage/FBI certificates are not considered valid for your application.
You will need newly issues ones: for birth certificates within last 12 months, for marriage certificates within last 6 months, and for FBI checks within last 3 months prior to submitting your application. And yes AIMA generally requires a new full set of valid documents for biometrics.
The issue date on the certificate is the one that matters. And yes you will need everything apostilled.
Re submitting late, there was some wiggle room during Covid when govt departments in the US were taking longer than usual to issue and certify docs, so Portugal sometimes let you submit the docs well after your appointment. I did read a user on here who mentioned they recently had 20 days from their appointment to submit some missing docs, so it looks like that is still the case, but again, everything needs to be valid.
Welcome to the exciting world of document timing. This is a regular part of the process for application and every renewal.