After maintaining the initial GV timeline spreadsheet for the past two years, @loheiman asked if someone else would be interested in assisting with the work of keeping it up to date.
Since I think this would work well as an integrated part of Nomad Gate, I saw this as a good time to build a more integrated and automated replacement, while migrating over the existing submissions.
I’ve now published the initial version of the tool, which consists of two parts:
1. Your personal GV timeline dashboard
This is where you can add or update your timeline (or those of your family members).
It looks like this:
To edit an existing timeline, just click the title or Edit button and you’ll be taken to a form with the current data pre-filled. Then just add your changes and submit.
To submit a new timeline, add the Add new timeline button. You can also use the Copy button next to an existing entry to start a new timeline entry with the same values pre-filled—don’t worry, you can edit before saving!
To delete a timeline, click the Delete button. Don’t worry if you accidentally delete a timeline, you’ll have the option to restore it.
For Nomad Gate users
As long as you’re logged in to your Nomad Gate account it should load your timeline (I’ve populated it with the data from the sheet created by @loheiman—so as long as you entered either your NG username or email there it should match automatically).
For non-users
If you’re not logged in you’ll also see the option to enter an email address to submit or update timelines without needing a Nomad Gate account. So if you used a different email address than the one you use for NG, you can use this option.
2. The crowdsourced timeline database
The crowdsourced data is available in several Airtable views (same data, filtered or organized in different ways):
Grid/Spreadsheet views:
- Main view: Shows the main milestones, filters out entries that contain clearly incorrect data such as applications submitted before 2012 or where approval date is earlier than application date, etc.
- Detailed view: Unfiltered view showing all milestones.
- Grouped by family: Same data as the main view, but grouped by family.
- Grouped by biometrics location: Only shows applications that have reached the biometrics stage.
Timeline views:
Calendar views:
- Calendar view: Good for answering the question “has there been any approvals lately”?
Note that in each view you can filter down further using the controls at the top. You can also view averages, standard deviations, ranges, etc for each grouping.
You’ll find all the GV timeline views here
Note: To navigate to the database in the future, you can use the main navigation menu on Nomad Gate (Golden Visas > Portugal > GV Timeline Database):
Planned views:
Pre-approval timeline view: Showing a visual representation of how the pre-approval times have changed over time based on time of application). I could potentially create more timeline views if it proves useful.-
Detailed view: An unfiltered view containing all steps, calculations (time between every stage), etc. -
Last updated view: A view focusing on the latest updates/events (for making it easier to see if anyone has received e.g. approvals lately).(Calendar view serves this purpose)
Any other views you’d find helpful? Let me know below!
FAQ
I have a duplicate entry, can I delete it?
Don’t worry, just click the Delete button next to the associated entry on your personal GV timeline dashboard.
It's a lot of work entering the data for each family member, can I speed up the process?
Definitely! Once you’ve added the first timeline, you can use the Copy button to pre-fill the timeline of the next family member with the same dates and information. Then just make changes to the dates that differ.
What if I used an identifier other than my email address or Nomad Gate username when submitting my timeline in the old spreadsheet?
Luckily, this was only the case for a few submissions. If these are not updated or linked to a Nomad Gate account or email address, they will eventually be marked as “stale” (see planned improvements below).
If it was the case with yours, send me a message or email stating which identifier you used and I’ll connect your submission to your NG account or email address.
Which details are made public?
All the dates you submit in the timeline will be included in the public crowdsourced database.
These details remain private (meaning only you and Nomad Gate staff can see them):
- Your email address (if any)
- Your Nomad Gate username (if any, unless you opt to publish it)
- The label you use for each application to tell your family members apart (e.g. myself, spouse, favorite child, Jack, or whatever you entered)
What if I don't want to link my entries to my Nomad Gate account for privacy reasons?
While the old version of the sheet allowed you to link your entry to a freeform identifier, almost no one used that option. Also, as far as I can tell, none of those entries were ever updated, contributing to stale data that skew the results and reduce the usefulness of the timeline database.
You can still remain completely anonymous, however, even to Nomad Gate staff. Here’s how:
- Open the GV timeline dashboard in incognito/private browsing mode or log out from your Nomad Gate account.
- In the email field, enter an anonymous email address that forwards to your regular email account (e.g. Apple’s Hide My Email)
- Click the link you receive via email to add or manage your timeline(s)
Planned improvements:
- Marking entries that have not been updated in > 1 year as “stale”, so they can be filtered out of views
- Setting up occasional emails reminding people to update their entries, including a one-click button to say that all applications are still waiting at the same step. Perhaps after 90, 270, and 540 days of no updates, and once your application is marked as “stale”. Any thoughts?
-
Add validations to the form that checks that dates are entered in the right order (application submission before pre-approval before biometrics before final approval, etc) -
Adding instructions to the personal dashboard -
Adding an option to copy/duplicate entries (to make it faster to enter all your family members) -
Adding an option to delete entries (in case you accidentally create duplicates) -
Styling improvements (especially email field)
I am also wondering if you would find these potential features helpful, so please give let me know below:
- Automatically post updates to the relevant threads (stages 2-5) here in the forum whenever someone updates reaches that stage
- I could create a
jsonAPI endpoint in case someone wants to do any ongoing programmatic analysis or graphical representations. - Create visualizations outside the Airtable views (let me know what kind of visualizations you’d find useful), some potential tools:
-
The option of showing your NG username publicly in the timeline DB -
A field with public comments about each timeline entry. E.g. for sharing information that’s not captured by the standard date fields, such as which documents SEF requested or if you missed a biometrics appointment.
Keep in mind that this is an early version, so feedback and bug reports more than welcome!
I’ll keep this post updated as I develop the tool further!
In contrast, Porto and Faro have redeemed themselves.