Espera mais uns dias!
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Would appreciate it if those who are getting this lower fees, could mention what kind of investments they made (Real Estate, Real Estate funds or other, Capital transfer etc.)
Now my lawyer wants to charge €1500 for “renewal”. Is this reasonable if all they are doing is receiving the card and couriering it to us?
i am in a R/E fund. Paid the 177.4 thru Bison today. Hopefully they will spit out a renewal card in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed.
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It is totally ripped-off. They do nothing except re-send the card to you when card is delivered to them.
If there was a fixed-price deal with the lawyer like “x for initial application, 0.5x for renewals” regardless of how many hours were spent on the application, then yes, they should be paid the renewal fees as agreed. If it was a billable hours deal, then of course it’s different.
I for one am happy with the fixed price deal, the amount of work and communication required for the first application were much more than I expected and I still got charged the same. And on the flip side, renewal had almost no work but I got charged the same, and I was happy to pay.
If you have a decent relationship with your lawyers, don’t nickel and dime them. It’s going to be a long, long haul.
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Quick question:
On SEF Site, my card status says “Concluded”. Any idea when I can get my card? Do renewal cards also take like 10-12 weeks?
Concluded means they’ve included your file in the roster to be passed on to Casa da Moeda in Lisboa. Everything is printed and dispatched from Casa da Moeda in Portugal and it is quite an efficient institution unlike SEF/AIMA. Usually the electronic roster shall be delayed by SEF until they’ve enough number of permits tobe sent.
Contraty to that a passport applied on an urgent basis at the IRN can be picked up the next day… Like the permit, everything gets printed in the same place which has nothing to do with the delays caused by the entity which is requesting them.
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Can you please advise when did you pay (date), the date your status changed to $Resources and the date it changed to Concluded? I paid on 17 July, its 19 July and still shows awaiting payment… I may sound flustered and impatient, but given the Gigantic & Galactic mess that Portugal’s immigration process have created for us at every step, I have good reason to be worried. Thank you.
I paid on Mon July 15. On Wed status changed to that Resources message. And on Thursday it changed to Concluded (Thurs Evening Lisbon time). Today morning it changed to Concluded. All within this week unexpectedly.
You have every reason to be flustered. My family’s DUCs are still not issued and its been more than a month since final approval
!
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I am also in same boat. Paid on 17 July and still shows awaiting payment. Will keep posted incase it changes. Any idea what time it gets updated.
Counterpoint: there’s little reason to support lawyers who are part of the GV industrial-scam complex, who knowingly signed you up for a process years longer than advertised, on a service that costs them almost no hours but is billed annually.
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I guess I have a semi-decent relationship with the legal group but there are three things that bother me:
- they work for Mercan so possible conflict of interest
- they seem to be losing lawyers often. Every few months their email reply is “so and so is now your lawyer, they will respond”.
- they messed up our one kids initial application online (wrong passport number and gender). They said it will be fixed when the application proceeds, I just hope it doesn’t mess up the start date of residency or anything.
based on these I would seriously consider switching once the stuff I’ve already paid for (kids’ 1st applications) are wound up … but that could take years at this rate.
Did your status change or still showing awaiting payment. I checked mine still shows awaiting payment.
I completely agree with this.
My lawyers just pushed the buttons for my renewal and asked for their fee, per agreement.
These lawyers busted butt to get me my appointments and permits in record time (literally) back in 2021. They have not failed to serve me well over these last three years of drama.
I didn’t even think twice, I just sent it.
Of course if your lawyer sucks, well… maybe you don’t send so quickly.
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Hello… still shows awaiting payment for me too! … 3 full days gone by since the payment was made and this is the status … why would they need so much time… I mean this payment system should have been fully automated, when one makes the payment the status should update real time… like it happens even in developing countries across the world… and if they want to manually update the status, I still think it is a simple query to match payment receipt reference number with the number on the DUC and change status in the backend… height of incompetency!
Hello! I totally agree with your analysis. I am also in Mercan’s programme and at one time I was facing a similar situation as yours. However, last year I changed to a new lawyer.
Hello, I am also in Mercan’s project and I am one of the 25 investors in Hotel Casa das Lérias. May I ask which project you are in?
Alas! Relieved to see “Concluido” status against my renewal… Now waiting for the card to be processed and delivered to lawyers… Family members are still not eligible for automatic renewal… Those who have paid for automatic renewal this month, please post if and when you are able to apply for automatic renewal for your family members. Thanks.
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Relieved too. received AIMA mail for automatic renew on 12/07, waited and paid on 19/07, “concluido” on SEF website this morning, monday 22/07. Now wait for the card to arrive, hopefully soon before travel.
ps. it was possible to change to new address directly on SEF site.
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