FWIW my lawyer also says things are speeding up. Seems like things were more or less on pause in August and September for upgrades and holidays and now it’s starting to pay off.
I’ll post my timeline soon when my wife’s card comes in
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All lawyers always play a game of positiveness. They cannot afford to be negative about the program if they still want to earn money.
New citizenship platform has not reduced any processing time. What has been changed with the citizenship is just the interface to show steps to applicants. All checks are kept the same (i bet even more checks will be embedded). Hence there is no way to say it reduces processing time. We only can conclude once the final outcome is published i.e. someone actually obtains the citizenship. Having less steps on the interface does not mean they check criminal records/language/residency times quicker. In my opinion, it will be the same as before. New interface is just a way that portuguese government wants to spend the national budget.
So people are now getting citizenship who only applied one year ago?
If it’s still 2-3 years that’s the same as it was before.
It seems yours is the latest renewal I have seen on this forum. Do you mind sharing when your expiry date was? I have less than 90 days left so I am wondering when I should try the auto renewal. Stressed since my work requires travel and I relocated to Lisbon this year.
This process just started as per the information shared. So we all we see the results soon I believe.
I am also curious about it. Anyone, please share the updates.
My expiry was August. Keep checking SEF portal. Still not possible to proceed auto-renewal. I sent inquiries by email. The answer was, “Please note that if you hold a residence permit and wish to renew it automatically, you may do so via the link: https://www.sef.pt/pt/Pages/registo.aspx
If you are unable to renew your registration on the AIMA Portal , you must schedule an appointment for an in-person appointment with the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN).”
However, I can’t find any icon for appointment. Phone call doesn’t work. Can’t visit directly the office without an appointment. So, just waiting for opening of auto-renewal. Not sure if I should just wait like this way. AIMA’s email says like don’t worry as your expired visa is accepted until June 2025 by Portuguese authorities, but it’s not authorized at the global level. Completely locked in the country since the beginning of this year (instead of taking the risk of traveling). I have a feeling that all the pending applications can’t be processed before June, and it will be extended until 2026 (then to 2027 again…), saying that don’t worry you can stay.
Anyone knows, which month of expiry is on process now?
We are in the same boat. Early August expiration, but cannot renew. IAS said “At the present moment it is not yet possible to renew the cards expired in august”.
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I did an automatic renewal in early 2023. My 2 year card will expire early next year, less than 3 months time. Has anyone managed to do a second automatic renewal? Do we expect that we will be able to renew for a second time?
Thanks
No one has done a second automatic renewal of the GV yet, because we (you and I and several others on this forum) were among the very first to get automatic renewals in Jan 2023. I’m also in the < 90 days to expiry category, checking sef.pt every day 
So far, the third quarter 2024 has not opened for autorenewal, neither this year family members of GV holders were able to renew. It is not possible to answer what happens next year. We have several hundreds of GV holders who have expired cards but still could not renew yet. The only advise here is to wait.
Got my renew approval today.
Physical appointment at AIMA Lisbon in Sept 2024. Data is here
Lawyer mentioned that card issuance fee is 3k/card. Not sure why my fee is 3k. But it is what it is. I’ll pay what Aima wanted. No question asked why. Let’s wait to see if the card is valid 2 years or 3 years.
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Yours is an almost unique experience. To my knowledge no one else has got a physical appointment for renewal, let alone 2.5 months before expiry. But then again, your particular circumstances (as you mentioned in the details, lawsuit for dependents, etc) might have pushed all of you into a special bucket.
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Thanks for kind words. I have to admit that there no pattern to conclude when working with aima. Regarding my lawsuit, still no news from the court. I would prefer to receive a concrete verdict from the court like: aime must issue approval within xyz days, cards must be issued within abc days…but nothing. However, out of the blue, i’ve got approval and payment was requested. 
Well, I wouldn’t look a gift card in the mouth
But given that you’re the first physical renewal we’ve seen in two years, would it be possible for you share a bit more about the details of the renewal appointment, e.g. what documents you submitted? Just curious about things like proof of stay, which have been discussed to death, but never been subjected to practical confirmation in a long while, and there’s been an agency change from SEF to AIMA in the interim.
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Here is the detail:
- Since May 2024, I was logging in my Sef account daily to check the automatic renewal option. My card was going to expire in Sept 2024. However, I never could do the auto-renew.
- In early July 2024, suddenly I realised that SEF/AIMA automatically assigned me an appointment to renew card. I informed my lawyer. Later on, my lawyer also received an email from AIMA with a different date for my renew. Yes!!! I had 2 different dates to renew my card. My lawyer kept trying to confirm with AIMA which one was the correct one. Never got any response. We decided to go to the early appointment in September as we know that we cannot afford to miss it. On the appointment day, we informed the AIMA officer (from her accent, I know she is originally brasilien) that we had 2 appointments for one purpose. She said that AIMA’s system went crazy sometimes. (No, I do not think so. AIMA is crazy all the times).
- What documents did I submit on that day: Nothing special really. Criminal record apostilled + declaration of the bank about the Fund for my GV. We were 4 people on that day. Two were for renew and other two were for getting the first card.
- Immediately after the appointment, AIMA request the proof of stays i.e. 14 days in Portugal. I have been living in Portugal since my first biometric of my first card. It is easy for me to prove my presence. I submitted my Portuguese certificate B1 and B2 (I completed a PLA course with exams for 9 months); some invoices of electricity/internet/water; and some invoices of Uber trips including the one on that day from my house to AIMA for the appointment. No hard copies needed. Only scanned versions of the proof of stays were submitted to AIMA via my lawyer. That’s all.
- I am sure that there are many physical appointments - I am not unique. You do not see it because here in this forum almost all investors are from US. In my appointment’s day, I saw several other asian GV investors (chinese and indian). It is difficult to see the real overall statistic thru this forum only.
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Thank you very much, @live2learn, this is very useful!
Good to know you’re not unique, but 4 on a day is a little on the low side. When I attended my first biometrics before the pandemic there were many more, and you could make out they were GV by how well-dressed their lawyers were
Perhaps the others you saw were cases similar to yours, who had filed lawsuits because of appointments lost during the pandemic airline restrictions. There are some Chinese and Indian forum members here, but you’re right, this forum is far from exhaustive.
Anyway, given your experience, looks like daily checking of the sef account is not entirely pointless.
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Just this afternoon I received an email from AIMA, in response to my question about automatic renewals for GV I sent 4 months ago, especially for those of us who want a second auto-renewal. Here is the complete email:
" Cumpre esclarecer, que as renovações automáticas no âmbito das autorizações de residência para investimento e respetivos familiares encontram-se suspensas – uma vez que a simplificação se encontrava prevista no artigo 217º da Lei n.º 82/2023, de 19/12, Lei do Orçamento de Estado de 2024 até 30/06/2024.
Constando da Lei n.º 23/2007, de 04/07 o procedimento a adotar cfr. artigos 90º-A, n.º 2 e 96º do referido diploma, conjugado com o artigo 65º-E do Dec.-Regulamentar n.º 84/2007, de 05/11- mediante agendamento prévio, as renovações devem ser formalizadas presencialmente.
Por ocasião da renovação ARI deverá/poderá a mesma ser convertida em AR Imigrante Empreendedor (cfr. artigos 42º e 43º da [Lei n.º 56/2023, de 06 de outubro e artigo 5º do [Dec. Reglm. n.º 1/2024, de 17 de janeiro, bem como a dos familiares, com pagamento das respetivas taxas.
Cumpre ainda referir que, sendo necessário agendamento prévio para efeitos de formalização presencial do pedido de renovação ARI, enviamos o s/email infra ao Centro de Contato AIMA para registar agendamento."
**So 3 important things: **
1. Automatic renewals are suspended for GV holders and family members.
2. GV renewals must be done in person through traditional way of scheduling.
3. ARI renewals are converted into Entrepreneur AR (D8?)
Overall I feel we are back to square one with GV renewals that lawsuits might not be avoidable.
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So, a lawsuit…?
Agreed. “might not be avoidable”
I corrected the typo. Thanks.
And yes, painfully yes. A lawsuit.
All these SEF/AIMA email responses mean nothing in practice.
They can write this to you as an ‘official response’ and quote hundreds of legal documents, but in parallel they may process an automated renewal without telling anyone.
I have seen this game long enough, it’s a normal behaviour of the bureaucrats.
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