Have you tried calling? I know that my attorneys are much better at responding to phone call than emails.
I think it is in part cultural.
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An update to my post on Feb 5th.
The lawyers received a mail from AIMA that the application is approved with a link to pay the amount. But the approval letter has my name spelled wrong ( yup) and my daughter’s approval is missing. The lawyers have gone back for correcting these.
Good news is that they are pretty much sticking to the 30 working days that the court had set out and I’m sure the issues will get sorted out soon.
Edit - just checked the AIMA website and my status says ‘Transferred’. Is this what it says for those who have been approved?
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My understanding is that transferred means final approval. Congratulations!
Looks like my file is approved - except with a wrong name 
Well, hope to get a response from AIMA in the next few days that should truly count as the final approval.
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If I want to file a lawsuit, do I have to have a reason of hardship? I don’t live in Portugal right now. Can I just file one without any additional cause (other than I just want it faster)?
hello. i am not a lawyer but i think my lawyer told me “hardship” or “urgency” did not work for his clients lawsuit.
maybe you can ask your lawyer what are the possible reasons for a lawsuit like this can succeed and post them here.
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My understanding is the reason for the court case is SEF / AIMA’s failure to process your application in the regulated timescales / reasonable timeframe.
Once filed the case is more likely to be accepted as urgent if you are suffering hardship as a result of these delays. (If not it may not be seen by the court for many months.)
Your hardship may also determine the judgement on what action AIMA should take to rectify the delay and how long AIMA has to fulfil the judgement (ie issue an appointment in 90 days etc)
So you do not need to suffer hardship to file a case but it effects the speed & outcome.
Have a look through this thread, posters appear to have been successful at court without living in PT, although no outcome is certain.
A good lawyer is the best starting point.
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We have the final confirmation from AIMA that all three of our applications is approved. They have asked us to make the payment through the link sent earlier (with the wrong name) and then they will send the payment link for my daughter.
So, hopefully that’s the end of this step and we join the queue of folks waiting for the physical card to be received. The lawyers will complete the payment this week and not sure what the current timelines are for payment to card.
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Congrats, Karthik
A tricky thing about filing a 2nd lawsuit against the AIMA when the 1st lawsuit is still pending.
My previous lawsuit is till pending after almost a year, because it was filled as a normal case. I am asking another lawyer to file a new lawsuit. Here is an issue raised by one lawyer:
“It is not possible to submit two lawsuits on the same subject and with the same parties. This will be an institute called “litispendência”, which makes it impossible to pursue the second action presented.”
You’re not having much luck 
I’m (obviously) not a lawyer, but perhaps you can instruct the lawyer who filed the first case to withdraw the case, then you file an amended case as urgent.
I would imagine this sort of situation happens all the time…where a case can’t be amended it’s withdrawn, perhaps you have to pickup AIMA’s costs (which should be trivial).
In my case, which I won, each party paid their own costs.
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My approval came through today. The court gave AIMA 30 days to make a decision as I am the main applicant and 40 days for the 2 dependent applicants. It came in at the 25 day mark. Hope the other approvals are as quick. 
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A new weird development. The applications for all three of us is approved but the DUC payment link was only for me. On enquiring, AIMA has said they will process the primary application first and only after my card is issued will they collect the payment for my wife and daughter. Just prolongs the time to get the cards.
Not sure why they make everything so complicated.
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Our lawyer said that she thought all of our applications were approved as well but wasn’t 100% certain this is the case. The payment link was only for the primary applicant, which sounds a lot like your situation. How frustrating.
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This is normal (if anything is in this process…).
The family are approved together but the DUCs for family members will only become available after the primary DUC has been generated and paid (i.e. NOT after the primary card is issued which may take 60+ days from payment).
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I hope this is the case. But my payment has been made and AIMA Lisbon is saying the other payments would be generated only after the primary’s card is issued. Hence the confusion.
DUC was created on Monday 25.03.24 , I made the payment and it appears as EMITIDO / ISSUED in the system. My lawyer said that I can make payments to my family after my DUC payment process is completed.
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Selim, any luck with getting the DUC for your family members?
As far as I read from @calpoidog in the Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4) group, after the main applicant’s card arrives, the DUCs of the family members are created. From what @calpoidog wrote, I understand that it means about 2 months.
Hi Selim, that’s what I meant. Previously, the DUC for family was being created after primary applicant’s payment was done - so quite quick.
The current process is after the card for the primary applicant is issued - which ends up as a 2 month delay for the entire family to get their cards.