HOW-TO: GV Automatic Online Renewal Procedure (Jan 2023→)

yep and its still not fixed :joy: :smiling_face_with_tear:

There is some discussion of all these issues in this thread. The problem becomes IIRC once you register your residence number to an email, I don’t think it’s possible to change it without consulting AIMA. And some emails don’t work with AIMA system if you use certain characters. Bottom line, if it doesn’t work after trying all of these recommended steps you need AIMA to fix it on their end.

Unfortunately all options didn’t work with many different email addresses. I will email them and hope for the best. Thank you for the help.

Congrats to everyone who received automatic renewal!

(@tkrunning it would be good to update the “Eligibility” section of the top post regarding the opening of online renewals for Q4. I am unable to edit the post as it is too old.)

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I made it a wiki post, so you should be able to continue editing it now :slight_smile:

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I’m having a weird experience with automatic renewal. My first GV residence permit ended last August. I applied for automatic renewal this April. Everything went smoothly and on April 20 the status of my application became ‘Concluído’. Since then I’ve been waiting for over 200 days for the residence permit card to arrive and I still don’t have it. I’ve wrote a ton of emails and received a few answers that everything is fine and I should wait for the mail a little longer. On the phone SEF and now AIMA told me that the card is in printing. I tried going to Lisbon SEF in person in September and there they told that everything is fine and the card is in printing and there is nothing in the world they can do about it and ‘Tudo bem’.

Has anyone encountered anything similar? Maybe someone has any advice on what to do with this nonsense?

I can sum up my Portuguese experience in six Portuguese words: ‘Calma e depois. E nada acontece.’

@Vladislav Your card was most probably printed, sent to your address then the CTT guy never dropped off the CTT slip. I had a similar issue, a real PIA, but was able to retrieve the tracking number and locate and pick up the card from the local CTT office just one day before they would sent it back to SEF. Your best bet is to try going to SEF/AIMA again and demand that they look for the card there although I read some people were refused entry because they do not hold an appointment. Boa sorte!

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@IME Many thanks for a take on the situation Mike. :pray:

A trusted legal advisor of mine says that if a physical card had been sent anywhere SEF/AIMA would have been able to provide me with a tracking number. The fact that they can’t give me a tracking number means that the card has never left the Casa da Moeda print shop. Moreover the advisor says that it’s likely that SEF never sent Casa da Moeda the task to print the card and that SEF/AIMA employees are lying out of being personally uninformed or for some other reason when they say that the card had been sent for printing. I forgot to mention that I hired a local attorney who wrote enquiries in September in parallel to my writing and he also only received a couple of replies saying ‘Tudo bem’, wait some more.

Unfortunately I filed for the GV as a Russian citizen. I wonder if printing of our renewed cards was put on an unofficial hold. I’ve heard of people that also renewed their residence permits automatically starting in the middle of April that haven’t received their new cards as well. Before the middle of April the automatic renewal was working more predictably.

I’m trying to figure out a pattern to have adequate expectations for my future. Is it that most people that renewed starting from the middle of April are stuck? Is it only the Russians? Am I just unlucky personally in this case? How did anyone solve a situation like mine apart from waiting and hoping?

If any of you renewed your GV automatically starting from April 15 or know someone who did so, would you kindly share that experience, so I get a little more clarity regarding my dilemma?

I appreciate any advice on this matter anyone cares to give. Meanwhile I will continue to send emails to now AIMA.

Russians have not had much luck with SEF since Ukraine became an unavoidably tasty treat in the eyes of Putin. Although I thought someone posted here that this had recently changed, so maybe your card is really processing now…

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Your case seems more of a clerical error than anything else, once your online status shows “Concluído” that means your card has been printed without any prejudice or any sort of analysis by a SEF officer. Although, SEF ( Now AIMA) charges the analysis fees but doesn’t provide any such services for automatic renewals. Mine had another issue of DUC payment hasn’t received and an automatic cancellation did happen, 35 days later whole family did receive the cards on the sameday!!

SEF doesn’t provide any tracking numbers for you online or to your legal advisor, they shall send you using a CTT Registered post and that’s it as I am typing holding my Red n white envelope in which my card was delivered to me personally by a postman as it needs a signature. If your legal advisor has any further information on the tracking number which is highly unlikely.

If i were you, I would go to the corresponding Correios Office and enquire about an undelivered Registered post as they do keep a tab on it. If a CTT office couldn’t find anything, then there was nothing posted in your name since the online renewal application being made. Following up, fire your legal adviser and get someone who can write a formal complaint to AIMA office ( Livro Amarelo - sito na Avenida António Augusto Aguiar, don’t ever use Livro de reclamações as they are meant for commercial establishments only) and they have to legally respond or resolve within 30 working days.

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this is still the case. All renewals for Russian nationals are on hold, despite being paid in full and gotten concluido status.
With respect, @TommyReine isn’t correct in this particular case :frowning:

FWIW, a friend of mine has a Russian GV client, who had his renewal all processed and paid to ‘Concluido’ some 5+ months back. However, no card in sight.
He went as far as visiting his local SEF (now AIMA) office on behalf of the client, just to be told that they (as AIMA) no longer can advise on any card status as it is held in the SEF IT system (so-called SIISEF I assume) from which they (AIMA) had been duly separated upon AIMA/SEF divorce. And the cherry on top is that (as he was told) SEF no longer has any publicly accessible offices to visit…

Very interesting. Those whose permits expiring in 4q are currently doing autorenewals in SEF IT system, but SEF does not exist anymore. If AIMA is not responsible for SEF IT system, who is processing those autorenewals? DUC is issued with AIMA logo

Existing permits are extended to June 30.

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What’s the source on this?

Decree-Law 109/2023, article 4 (translated):

8 - Documents and visas relating to stay in national territory, whose validity expires from the date of entry into force of this decree-law or in the 15 days immediately preceding, are accepted, under the same terms, until June 30, 2024.

9 - The documents referred to in the previous paragraph will continue to be accepted, under the same terms, after June 30, 2024, as long as the holder provides proof that they have already scheduled their renewal.

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After automatic renewal process, are cards delivered by regular CTT into your regular mailbox? Or only hand delivered with signature? And do they notify you which day it will arrive? I am not regularly home but I can have someone be there to receive the parcel if I know which day it is coming if signature is required. But if they leave the parcel with other mail, then that is ok also.

They are delivered to mailbox, no signature required.

I renewed online when Q4 opened, and SEF accepted the payment so presumably someone somewhere is processing the card. My lawyer said the card might take up to 1-3 months while they sort out the AIMA transition but I’ll update this thread if I hear anything further.

Edit: I just noticed that my payment receipt came from AIMA not SEF, so re the comment suggesting card status is being “held in the SEF IT system” it appears that AIMA is now in charge of the process.

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