Yes. We filed in Feb ā24 we are Stage 2 - our initial filing was Oct 2022.
But we lost 
. (Drew the short straw with the judge)
Lawyers claim it happens occasionally and they have been mostly winning. Now appealing - fingers crossed 
)
Same for my first caseā¦
FWIW, Iām still waiting on a decision for my case, filed early December 2023
Sometime this week my lawyers noticed the judge we were assigned to has changed -
from
Judge Dr. Hugo Ferreira
to
Mrs. Dr. TĆ¢nia Felgueiras dos Santos
I believe I was in Lisbon to begin with, so Iām not sure what this implies.
Good to know we arenāt the only ones whose case has been impacted.
President of the Porto City Council says 7,500+ ā¦ but in any case a ridiculous amount:
Rui Moreira says that AIMA's operation "reaches the level of scandal"
The mayor mentioned that there are over 7,500 lawsuits against AIMA ādue to delays in regularizing foreign citizensā,
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Seems to track. https://www.portugalresident.com/migrants-file-52-judicial-complaints-against-aima-per-day/
Itās unsurprising given itās impossible to get them to do anything without one, and it sounds like itās not just us GV folks filing them either. I have a number of friends here on D7s and some others from Brazil on the CPLP visa, and all of them have also been experiencing long wait times, unavailable appointments, etc. Many are stuck unable to renew those residency cards for months or years. So itās to be expected that folks in those categories will be considering litigation as well.
AIMA workers fight āinjusticeāā¦ against themselves!
Of course, AIMA workers are the true victimsā¦ 
AIMA workers will not be āscapegoatsā for migrant attacks - The Portugal News
Rui Moreira has my voteā¦ if heās still running for public office by the time my citizenship comes through in the 2030s! 
Started the process in October of 2021. Pre-approval May 2022. Biometric appointment in Jan 2023, and nothing since. 17 months since biometric appointment and no end in sight. The expectation of 6-9 months for the first residence card after a biometric appointment is not even close to realistic; and each year the cost of the first residence card goes up. That first card now costs over 2000 euros more today than it did when I started the process. A lawsuit would add to that additional cost with no guarantee of success . The cost of a lawsuit is yet another unknown.
I applied for a GV when there were no D7 visas being processed due to covid. Portugal described a GV process of 6-9 months from preliminary approval to issuance if a visa . I trusted that process and the schedule provided by the rules. In retrospect, that trust was misplaced.
While Portugal now counts waiting time for issuance of a visa toward the 5 years before one can apply for citizenship, living in Portugal without a visa keeps us in legal limbo with no status in the rest of the Schengen zone . Permission to remain in Portugal is not guaranteed.
Every week I see fellow expats getting their D7 visas approved in just a few months and for far less cost. There is no process for converting a GV application to a D7 without leaving Portugal , starting a D7 process from scratch, and giving up all of the credit toward the 5 year waiting requirement for a citizenship application. There is simply no reasonable justification for how we are being treated relative to applicants for D7 or digital nomad visas.
My advice to anyone considering applying for a GV is, donāt do it.
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Thereās a thread here for that too 
Update of my situation. My lawyer (the lawyer A in my previous discussion of my derailed and delayed lawsuit against SEF) told me that I lost my lawsuit. She attached a document from the court. The judge said that my case was not urgent as I did not live in Portugal. This is ridiculous. How can I go to Portugal without the residency card in the first place?
What should I do next? Appeal to the higher court, file a case of injection, or file a new lawsuit? Thank you in advance for your advice.
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Iām not sure if appeal is possible or how that works here but you should definitely do something to try again, either an appeal or another lawsuit if not. Donāt just accept it.
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Maybe there are some investors having the biometrics done and living in PT since then,which are urgent in the judgeās perspective.These people will contribute to the local comsumptions while the others do not.Thatās the logic how the jugde and AIMA staffs think and behave.So many of us donāt have the priority in the processes of GV,we have nothing to do but wait.
Itās just a guess of mine.
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Vicky, my advice is to file again. Ensure you include all the issues, delays & costs that are attributable to the delay in getting residency & the distress & hardship this is evidently causing you.
Cut a deal with Lawyer B to keep filing (for no extra cost) until you get a judge who understands the urgency of the matter (they each evaluate the cases differently).
Good luck!
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There are a number of us in this situation. There is a COVID-era law in force stating that if one has an immigration proceeding that originated before the end of 2021, then they are considered regular in their stay in Portugal regardless of residency card. This has led a number of us here on the forums, myself included, to move to Portugal without having the card in hand.
While life is generally normal, the lack of card is a real pain in the ass and precludes certain interactions with the government. And thus I would argue holds additional urgency for those of us resident in PT.
That said, this argument breaks down a bit when one considers that, in the absence of a court decision, nobody is seeing any movement at allā¦
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We too have been living in Portugal for over year-and-a-half whilst waiting forever for the final approval (bio Jan 2023). I would not worry too much about staying in Portugal as nobody truly cares here about your status. Travelling so far either within Schengen or outside has not been affected so far as well. However, with the advent of ETIAS programme as of beginning of 2025, this might change, and that would be a very real ground to initiate a law suit.
I would advise you to start a legal process with āurgentā designation. After patiently waiting for over 16 months for the final decision, I have instructed my lawyer to proceed with such a suit as well.
On a positive note: everything in Portugal, according to the Portuguese themselves, eventually resolves itself - donāt loose hope completely (yet)!
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How do you travel in the schengen zone after overstaying your Schengen visa? The penalties can include being barred permanently from the zone.
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With the U.S. passports, we had no issues during Schengen border crossings either into or out of Europe, travelling to UK, US, and Australia. Within Schengen area, there are no border controls. Travelling to Spain by car is trivial as there is nobody on the roads, especially secondary ones - just a lonely sign āEspaƱaā would greet you into the country along the way. Flying to France and Italy we encountered absolutely no border checks. Passports were used strictly as a form of ID only.
Twice we were asked to justify entry to Portugal. Once in Heathrow, a TAP agent wanted to see our return flight ticket. When we showed him our SEF letter of biometric completion, he was satisfied. The second time, a SEF agent in Humberto Delgado (again, flying from Heathrow), wanted to see our cards, giving us a lecture how we should present them on arrival. And again, whence we told him about our situation and presented our letter form SEF, he was satisfied and slapped a fresh stamp into our passports.
I suppose if you are really caught and pressed for answers, you might have more explaining to do. However, technically you do have a confirmation of your residency status as attested by SEF documents. It is not ideal, but perhaps I have a greater risk tolerance.
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@mborcherding, although you arenāt supposed to, some NomadGaters do it anyway, figuring the risk of getting caught is minimal - particularly next door in Spain. Personally, I havenāt rolled the dice.
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Of all the cases that might be considered urgent, I believe yours would. AGPC is one firm that is responsive and experienced in such matters and it may well be worth your while to run your situation by them.