That is more expensive than other lawyers we have heard about, but good luck! An extra 1000 EUR to end the insane delay is well worth it.
As for the SEF/APMA transition, interesting question there.
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I spoke to my lawyer. They do not think the SEF transition will impact lawsuits against it, at least in the near future.
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Hello Group,
I wanted to update you on the status of my SEF Lawsuit. I used Rodrigo Volz from CCA in Lisbon to file a lawsuit against SEF in July 2023. (They handled my initial application and have been extremely professional. I went the fund route with Iberis Greytech 2 and submitted my GV application in December 2021 and as of July 2023 I had not received pre-approval. ). The Portuguese court accepted the lawsuit under urgency in August 2023 and in early September 2023, I received my pre-approval and a date for my biometrics. We are going in for the biometrics appointment on December 18, 2023 at the SEF office in Coimbra. I believe the lawsuit was the only way to move this process along. If you’d like Rodrigo’s contact information please PM me and I will send it.
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Hi Susan, congratulations! Were you already living in Portugal when you filed the case?
I am not that familiar with Portuguese court procedure. When you say it was accepted “under urgency” does that mean: (1) you needed to show urgency to have it considered by a court or (2) it was the speed at which the court rendered a decision? Either way, what made your case urgent? Thanks for adding to the knowledge base!
Did the court make a ruling which led to you getting your GV or did the SEF just happen to process your application after the lawsuit was filled?
No, the court made a ruling and the SEF was forced to respond. I would be waiting still if I had not gone through the effort.
Hi Matt, My children are in their 20’s so time is of the essence. To have the case accepted as “urgent” there needs to be some form of hardship. Susan
No, I still live in the USA.
Right, so in your case the urgency was the ages of your children. That’s useful for people to know as it seems to have success in a case there has to be a “reason”.
I don’t think that’s what we’ve seen. The urgent status is a legal pathway, not necessarily a reason for your case
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Do you already live in PT?
Yes, urgency just means they consider your case within a few months instead of on regular PT time.
Greetings - our version of Susan’s journey is:
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Initial planning and decision to proceed in Mid-2021.
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We used GET GV to help navigate funds. NSM Advogados for legal. Bison for bank. All this was smooth and responsive.
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By the time 3 fund investments were made and all the surrounding logistics done, we submitted and paid the initial fee in Oct 21. NSM handled all this.
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Notice of preliminary acceptance of the package was made in March 2022 (or 5 months later).
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Biometric appointment received in Dec 2022, for date in Feb 2023. In Lisbon. Great! Way late, but Great! We made a banzai trip in February - basically a really expensive trip to the Dept of Motor Vehicles - photos and fingerprints and out by noon. Fly home the next day. Blah.
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Based on an expectation of closure sometime in the next 3-6 months, booked a vacation/tour for family for Dec, anticipating reasonable time to approve and issue visas.
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Mid year and nothing but crickets. Could not help but to observe that for a large number of months that the SEF had dutifully processed its low-100s of GVs, irrespective of the backlog. Month after month, pretty the same output. After splitting amongst the nationalities, the US was getting - maybe 50?
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So, August 2023: Wanting to protect the time and expense of the trip, figured it was worth EU1000 to fire off a lawsuit and see if it helps move this frozen process along. off it went.
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November (last week): received the first promising email from the attorney which reads:
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" I hope this emails finds you well. We have some news regarding your legal action.
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We received your reply, that I’m sending attached…
The decision was “Under the terms and on the grounds set out above, I order the Defendant [SEF or its successor] to decide on the Plaintiff's application for a residence permit, within the period set at 15 (fifteen) days.”
This being said, AIMA (previous “SEF”) has 15 days, until the 17th of November to issue a definitive decision regarding your application – grant you the golden visa or not grant you the golden visa.
The only thing for us to do now is to wait for their decision due next Friday the 17th.
Open question will be if there is enough time (a) if they comply with the court order to adjudicate our application and (b) issue the cards/accounts prior to our arrival in early Dec.
Fingers crossed for the timing and best regards to all the other travelers on this curious journey. As a note, was at a conference just two days ago (investment oriented) and no less than 3 unrelated conversations touched on the party’s interest in a Portuguese GV. Glad we started when we did.
AB
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Thank you so much for sharing your story. We also did our biometrics in Lisbon in February 2023 and like you were expecting our cards by the end of the year.
You were 100% correct to initiate the lawsuit in August. I sincerely wish our lawyers had suggested this to me.
Instead, I asked them proactively about this three weeks ago. We will embark on it now and be three months behind you. Let us know when you get your response. Thanks.
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Similar situation for us. We asked our lawyer about legal options in September, but they were lukewarm to the idea, suggesting we were a month or two away from getting the visas. We have now directed them to begin the legal process for bringing a case against SEF/AIMA. Really wished we had done this months ago.
Similar feelings of regret here, also with Feb 2023 biometrics. My lawyers have advised that, living outside Portugal, I have no grounds to bring a case for “urgent consideration”, and so any court date would likely be a year or more away. Your experience suggests that this isn’t correct.
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I’d recommend switching lawyers
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This is absolutely not correct. I just won a judgement and have never resided in Portugal. I am a firm believer that unless time is a luxury for you, that spending $1K or whatever to keep SEF honest at ever required deadline is just a cost of the process.
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Hello, may I get a referral to your lawyer? What step were you at, and how quickly did you get your card after filing?