I started this thread, so let me wrap it up. The nightmare of SEF paperwork is (almost) over, after well over two thousand euros spent, countless sleepless nights, anxious phone calls, and harassing bureaucrats in three jurisdictions. All to get two stupid and truly unnecessary pieces of paper.
First, regarding my wife’s FBI report (remember, we’re US citizens living full-time in Hong Kong, and the FBI report was never required in our initial application and first renewal). We found a guy in Dallas who runs a fingerprint service. He was great. My wife’s fingerprints were not. In order to get them done professionally she went to the Hong Kong Police, which has a fingerprinting service. Her fingerprints are notoriously light, but the HK Police did a decent job of getting a good looking set. I then scanned them on my industrial grade scanner, one used for scanning high quality artwork. I scanned it at the highest resolution, shot up the contrast, making sure all the ridges and swirls were clear, and sent it by e-mail to Dallas. They submitted it to the FBI. Which rejected them as too low quality.
Back to the Police. The guy in Dallas recommended getting more than one set, so he could piece together the best image of each finger. The Police were reluctant to do so but finally obliged. We sent the originals by FedEx. Because of Hong Kong’s idiotic covid-related flight bans, all couriers offer only their super premium service. So we paid a bit over US$120 to send him three sheets of card stock. He spent three hours cutting apart and glueing together the best set, scanned it and sent it in. 8 out of 10 passed the FBI inspection, which was good enough.
I want to strongly shout my praise for the fine service and dedication of Neal Stout at Dallas Fingerprinting - Services – Dallas Live Scan Fingerprinting
Thanks to Monument Visa, three weeks later the FBI certificate was in my lawyer’s hands and forwarded to SEF in Porto.
The Hong Kong criminal certificates, also required by SEF from both of us, were an even costlier venture. The HK Police will only issue criminal certificates to a requesting government authority. I am never allowed to touch it even once. In the past, I got a letter from SEF at the end of my biometrics appointment, brought it back to Hong Kong to request the certificate, and the HK Police sent it directly to SEF without translation or apostille. For our application and first renewal, SEF accepted this. But not this time. Now SEF requires the two sentences of simple English on the criminal certificates to be translated into Portuguese and “legalized” by the Portuguese Consulate in neighboring Macau. So I requested documents from the Consulate in Macau to present to the HK Police, which the Consulate e-mailed to me a few days later.
As Hong Kong descends into bone-chilling autocracy, people are fleeing here by the tens of thousands. And everyone needs a criminal certificate to emigrate to whatever country. So the HK Police are booked up months in advance for such requests. I called, wrote letters, and begged and pleaded, and finally found a woman on the phone who was able to slot us into someone else’s cancelled appointment. A month later, our certificates were sent to the Portuguese Consulate.
Also thanks to covid paranoia, no one from Hong Kong is allowed to enter Macau, so I can’t pick up my own documents. I had to hire a lawyer in Macau to do it for me. But she needed power of attorney from me, meaning find a notary public in Hong Kong and then send the statement by courier to her in Macau. Total cost for all this: around US$1300. Then when the certificates were ready, add another US$120 to send them by DHL from Macau to Lisbon.
My lawyer received them last Friday and sent them in to SEF. Easter is coming up, and SEF extinction is set for May, so I’m anticipating yet more excruciating bureaucratic delays in issuing our new ID cards. But at least everything is in place.
Total cost to humor SEF with an unnecessary apostille and an irrelevant FBI report (my wife hasn’t lived in the USA since 1985!): way over US$3000. Add another $60 for the two bottles of scotch to help me cope with the stress.
Assuming we get our new ID cards before September, we intend to move to Portugal then. Next stop: the agony of applying for a Certificado de Bagagem to ship household items, most of which were purchased over 20 years ago and for which no receipts exist.