I have had a very positive experience with GCS. The GV process is very turgid and GCS has always been able to assure me this is expected and they have always followed through on meeting the quixotic demands of the process.
Thank you for your response, Frank!
Hello. I know this is an older thread, but I just came across it. We are hoping to start the Golden Visa by investment option within the next few months and was wondering which firm you chose and if you found it to have ultimately been helpful. Any advise regarding this would be greatly appreciated. 
Few actually benefit from using such a firm as GCS or Henley. Those firms merely package up and profit from what you and your independently hired PT lawyer otherwise accomplish directly and without limiting guidance dictated by how much commission GCS, Henley, and the like earn off of your choices. Of course, not all PT lawyers are so ethically inclined to avoid benefiting, so choose carefully (throughthemill is one here with such insight learned the hard way). In any case, I would not trust the objectivity of advice provided by a lawyer who economically holds more loyalty to the referring source (GCS, Henley, etc.) than to any single client that comes from that source. I’d suggest finding and hiring one yourself. YMMV. Also, the list of lawyers published by NG isn’t inclusive of all member-recommended independent lawyers, rather the list is those with whom NG has a relationship that leads to such a referral, whatever that may be (same with the investment options, and no implication here that NG listed parties are good or bad choices, merely that others exist); in other words, the forum entries themselves contain a more broad selection of options in both categories albeit in a form that’s much more difficult to parse through than is a pre-packaged referral list. Good luck.
(opening line edited in light of fraught-cork’s input)
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We have used Henley. Did we need them ? I’m not sure. Plenty of people don’t.
But our situation is very complex (lived in many countries and have moved during the wait time) and they have been helpful , gave clear advice (because we weren’t even sure if Portugal or no), were totally transparent with the difficulties and timelines when we applied and what they hoped for vs what they knew. Also in pushing us along to do things quickly, arranging translators, getting documents etc. We can’t travel to Europe easily (visas needed ) So it was worth it for us to have them do the admin. They have been very competent so far. You have to decide if the cost benefit trade off is worth it for you. It was for us.
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@sj-to-pt I am considering going direct to a law firm rather than using GCS or Henley. Now to find a good lawyer… I see you were using Abreu Advogado for your application. Are you still happy with their services? Is there a specific lawyer that you found helpful?
I’m still with Abreu and have been happy with them so far - they’ve successfully won lawsuits for myself and my wife. It’s a very large law firm so probably no need to recommend a specific lawyer, we’ve had a team of 3 or 4 of them representing us.