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.
After the “new” system that started in January 2025, wasn’t it the idea that you don’t need to refresh the documents for biometrics anymore, as long as the documents were valid and complete at the time of the submission?
So basically, make sure your application is 100% complete when submitting, then bring the same originals to biometrics?
Of course it’s better to be mentally prepared for another refresh, but my understanding was that it shouldn’t be required anymore.
I got my application submitted in early October, and have a biometrics appointment in February. My lawyer is advising me to bring newly-issued apostilled documents
On the spreadsheet, in the notes, one person makes very clear that they needed a fresh background check at biometrics even though they had resubmitted everything in January.
I am waiting to hear whether I should apostille the FBI clearance from my July application or need a new one. Their message said “We received that without apostille. Did you have that one apostilled since? If so, yes, bring that.” It didn’t say what to do if I had not. I will update here when I get their answer.
It seems a safer to get a new one, but it will be my third in 8 months and it just seems ridiculous. Guess I need to get used to ridiculous if I stick around through this process.
Whether to get the updated background check is a cost/benefit analysis. Consider that there are people who have been waiting for biometrics for three years or more. If you don’t have the document at biometrics, and the AIMA official wants it, it could be a very long time to get another appointment. Remember, this massive burst of appointments being released is basically unprecedented and may not occur again anytime soon.
The FBI one I’m less concerned about since I can still have that rushed should instructions change, it’s just trading more money and time for peace of mind. It’ll be in anticipation of a hopefully forthcoming dependent appointment, and it is doubtful I would even get that document in time for the appointment should it go anything like last time (I think I had 3 days of overlap between all document validity?), and that was after somehow miraculously stumbling upon the right high ranking official’s personal cell phone number.
Am I understanding correctly that you submitted your application without the required FBI check WITH apostille, and that to date it has yet to be submitted?
It was submitted without apostille and now they asked for it apostilled for biometrics. That’s why I’m unclear whether I need a new one or they want the same one that’s already been submitted.
Did you self submit, or did you have legal representation? Was there some extenuating circumstance as to why the apostille was not submitted, either originally or at any point during this time? If you had an attorney, what did they say about this at the time? I’m also curious about the reasoning for continually ordering background checks, but from what it sounds like, never having any apostilled?
If it were me I would be getting all new docs, getting an apostille for that first one and hoping they don’t decide to deny the application.
I also wonder if it isn’t these kinds of situations causing the “I submitted/resubmitted docs and still need them for biometrics” reports.
My lawyers have done whatever was needed for all the paperwork through application submission. They have never requested anything apostilled. Maybe they knew it wasn’t necessary until biometric and were trying to save me time and money? I really couldn’t say.
