Thank you. I will look for it.
And if you are not sure if it applies to GV, my answer is Yes - see clause 2a which mentions
ā 90.Āŗ-A da Lei n.Āŗ 23/2007, de 4 de julhoā
- that is us, GV applicants
Actually, the document states in the end of the preamble that is valid āno Ć¢mbito da doenƧa COVID-19ā. Is it still considered in force in light of the āend of the pandemicā, so to speak?
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In my humble non-legal opinion, this Despacho is still in force and applies to your case as long as you initially applied before 1 Jan 2022.
The context of the pandemic is meant to say that SEF had delays in full years of 2020-21 hence this Despacho is extending the validity of previous ones.
It does not put any condition on the future continuation of the āpandemicā.
Thanks. I hope you are right. I will know in a month once I am leaving after an overstay in light of SEF appointment.
Sure, I recommend you print out this Despacho just in case.
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I certainly will! Thank you for posting it!
To U.S. Applicants:
I have finally managed to receive the text of the Treaty signed between U.S. and Portugal that grants 60-day visas to U.S. citizens with ordinary passports (thatās what most of us have). I am planning to have it on hand when I exit Portugal in a month in case someone starts questioning my status. Frankly, I donāt anticipate issues, but just in case, it might be good to have it on hand if you overstayed your automatic 90-day Schengen visa.
Text of US-Portugal Visa Treaty.pdf (1.3 MB)
Please note, this does not allow you to travel throughout Europe, but you can stay in Portugal beyond the 90-day limit if it is honoured by SEF at the airport. Book your flight to a non-Schengen destination so that you go through the border control in Lisbon.
Good luck!
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As I promised, I am updating the forum regarding travel from Portugal after over-staying the 90-day tourist visa (with U.S.) by additional 45 or so days. To all who were intrigued by potential adventure, I only have a very disappointing news: at the passport control in Lisbon, nothing happened! The agent just found an empty page and slapped a faint stamp on it. That was it!
We flew with BA straight to London, and then onto LAX. No issues whatsoever.
FYI: we have been pre-approved in February/March 2022, and went through our biometrics in Lisbon on January 18th, 2023.
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For people who have overstayed after pre-approvalā¦ have you tried to get employment or take advantage of any of the other benefits of the GV (whatever they may be)? Weāve just attended our biometrics and have been advised by our lawyers that we cannot technically seek employment until we get the resident cards however we should discuss the situation with employers because the SEF was unlikely to come after us during this interim period. Clearly we have bank accounts and social security numbers so just wondered if anyone has looked for employment in the period before the resident card is issued. Thanks.
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Remember this will go on a immigration record based on entry and exit dates. I know people on schengen visa who have been questioned, why they exited a day late than approved. Only the future can tell. Ofcourse it all can be argued in the court of law if it causes trouble.
Sorry, Richard, I have not tried to look for any employment. I am now āofficiallyā retired. I would assume you can look for some employment with some kind of statement from your lawyer coupled with SEF documents. As for SEF, I doubt they will be āknocking on your doorā to throw you out of the country - it is just not their practice and GVās are not their priorityā¦
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Hi Tommy
I just wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for this information! My lawyer had previously said ā no, you canāt overstay 90/180. You must wait for your residence cardā.
We met with our lawyer in mid February. I produced the Despacho you had brought my attention to. She asked me to leave it with her. Lo and behold, I now have a letter from her, referencing the Despacho, our pre-approval status and stating that our ā stay in national territory is considered regularā!
We donāt need to use it yet as the house we are buying is under construction, and we are only undertaking short trips at the moment to check on build construction, but itās good to have it available, up our sleeve, for the future!
Many thanks again!
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These forums really are an excellent resource. Hat tip to you @tommigun for the above, and especially to you @tkrunning for providing this platform.
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Here here! - The biggest ā thank youā 
to @tkrunning, for providing this forum!
So far Iāve asked several questions, and got better quality suggestions and answers from several members, and more timely information here, than I have often had from my lawyers!
I honestly think I would have gone quietly mad with the GV application process by now, if I hadnāt have found Nomad Gate, and been able to share our concerns and experiences with the process! I canāt imagine how awful it must be for those āin the darkā, who havenāt found this forum 
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I promised to update the forum upon my return back to Portugal, and so, here it goes:
My wife and I hold U.S. Passports and now live in Lisbon even though our residency cards have not yet been issued. We have completed, however, our biometric appointments in January 2023 and received documents that stated our completion of appointment (with no pending items to be provided). We left for the U.S. in February 2023 and returned back in Portugal in April 2023, staying out of Schengen for just over 60 days.
When we were boarding the flight with British Airways (LAX - HTR - LIS), they could careless about our stamps in our passports, just as long as our passports were valid. Now, when we missed our flight from London due to tight connection and were transferred on TAP, the agent did ask us to prove that we have a return flight from Lisbon. When we mentioned that we now live in Portugal, he asked to see supporting documentation at which state we showed him the SEF letter certifying the completion of biometrics. He was satisfied with that.
Upon return to Lisbon, the passport control SEF agent must have had information about our immigration status, but was unaware that we still had not received our cards. When he saw our passports, he stated that āā¦ you must show your residency cardsā. We were once again obliged to present our SEF document of biometric completion. He was satisfied, and slapped another stamp onto our passports.
The morale of the story: you might need to prove your SEF application status, but you will get your Schengen stamp re-set for another 90 days. Currently we are in Spain (though we drove here), and so far - so good.
Good luck everyone.
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Hello Peter,
You might be right, but sometime playing a bit ādumbā might go a long way. My hope is that I would never have to ādiscussā this issue or āproveā it to anyone. Even better, of course, would be to receive the cards within the next 90 days in Portugal, but that would be a tall orderā¦ 
Cheers,
Roman
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I agree Roman - I deleted the comment - silence is golden ( especially when itās about Visas) 
No worries, mate!
Thanks for sharing, @PCERoman ,
ā¦ you must show your residency cards
Did I get it right, you have completed the biometrics, but havenāt gotten a final approval/payment, is that right?
The morale of the story: you might need to prove your SEF application status, but you will get your Schengen stamp re-set for another 90 days. Currently we are in Spain (though we drove here), and so far - so good.
Are you confident about the āre-setā? 90/180 rule and such.
Please correct me if Iām wrong.