Do you have any idea how to deal with the address if the person does not live in Portugal? I feel a bit awkward to use CTT forwarding to the international address. Of course right now, I am in Portugal and am going to use CTT domestic forwarding only…but what if someone lives abroad?
Also, we have another thread which someone shared his experience to get GV PR during the renewal appointment at Aima office. Now the renewal process is online (and fee needs to be paid upfront), how is it possible to request GV PR?
Another mission impossible…
From what I understand, CTT’s international forwarding service is expensive and may not be reliable. The idea is to have a friend in Portugal with an address at which the card can be received. I personally have never used the CTT forwarding service, so I cannot attest to its reliability. I also do not know what documents they require from you to activate it. If you do use it, please share your experience with us.
As to the GV PR… AIMA has forgotten about it. I am sure if you ask them, they will tell you to email your request to the oblivion. We can only hope that in a few months the backlog of applications will be dealt with and they will develop systems to process such special things like GV PR. But that, of course, is giving them too much credit.
I have a question for you. When you made your payments on the portal, in your online banking interface did you indicate the NIF numbers of the dependents or your own NIF? I am wondering if an inconsistency with the NIF could be causing the delay in them finding your payment from March 4…
As for my sons, I have decided to pay up. The DUCs were still valid a month after issuance and yesterday I sent the payments (indicating my own NIF, which I now doubt was a good idea). My plan is to have them renewed and then file with the justice ombudsman to have the money refunded. Will take two or three years, but I am confident I will get my money back.
My concern is that if there is no one at home and the CTT leaves a notice to pick up at the post office, then it is impossible for a friend to pick up at the post office. The staff will need to see the actual ID which is matched with the person’s name on the envelop…..
For payment of the renewal, I’ve never ever specified any NIF. And I’ve been doing it for years. Only me paying for the entire family and I only put the DUC number and amount and then hit enter!
I think it’s best to proceed the payment now and fight for money back later. Once you have card in hand, you have times to chase them down…
AAAAAh. For that, there are solutions. The first one is called representação postal. You and the friend have to go to the CTT office and fill out a form and pay a fee. You get a card valid for a year which allows you to pick up your friend’s mail. That can, of course, only be done if your friend comes to Portugal to visit the CTT office with you. I have done it once for someone.
Another option is for the friend to mail you his ID and you sign your friend’s signature on the CTT notice. You can then go to the CTT office with your friend’s ID and your own. You may also need to prove you live at the same address (I am not sure). I have done this when I picked up my wife’s residence card at the CTT.
This exact thing happened to us. Mother in law was living in Britain and her card was sent to our place. Since we have a rural address and CTT doesn’t always bother to show up, they also wouldn’t leave it in our CXP down the hill. It went to the main CTT branch. We had to beg and plead with the teller and she eventually relented. I fear what would have happened if it got returned to AIMA and was lost in the ether.
My dependent is a child and I am wondering that NISS is required for a child during the renewal process?
If it is required, then I will have to bring my child to Espaco de cidadão to apply for NISS?
Or since my child does not even have Niss number, I can bring my child directly to the Seguranca Social department to ask for the certificate of no debt? Obviously someone who does not have Niss number is automatically debt-free…but maybe Portugal thinks differently…
Do you have any idea how to solve this?
Another dilemma…
For your child’s NISS declaration I don’t think you need to bring them in person to the Social Security office. You just book your own appointment and bring your child’s ID just in case.
A long time ago, AIMA published a bulletin saying kids under 18 are exempt from the requirement to have a NISS. You can still find it on the AIMA facebook account. However, I do suggest you visit the espaço cidadão. They only need you, not your kids. Bring kids id’s, etc.
Dependent 2: submitted docs today. “Situação contributiva” was not obtained. Instead I wrote an explanation that kid is under 18 and does not need NISS according to AIMA’s own rule. I also attached the screenshot of the AIMA’s instruction about this matter. The QR code was sent to my email about 1 hour after submitting documents. Now wait and see what’s next…Once it gets concluded, I will rush myself to CTT for the CTT forwarding service.
Can’t not see why one needs lawyers for this. If you can go to Notary office yourself (which cost me 43 Euros to certify my resident card and sign the Termo responsibilidade in front of the notary officer), it saves lots of money!
I’m sorry I missed your message. Yes, I encountered the same error. I uploaded the card files, passport files, and PDF files with the errors encountered, but I couldn’t submit them because the previous issue, submitted in June 2025, has not yet been resolved. I was so tired that I gave up and decided to wait until the AIMA meeting to decide what to do next.
I have also uploaded my sons’ requests today and received QR codes almost instantly…
I also uploaded for my other relative (primary investor - real estate) and received her QR code too. On her QR code paper it specifically states:
How is everyone here getting a NISS number to show no debts? Or is everyone here living in Portugal and thus able to get a declaration of no record? Or are people just doing this for their minor dependents only?
I applied for a NISS February 27 and haven’t received any response yet.
If you applied for NISS on the social security website, you can log in and see the status of the application. You usually don’t get notified. Normally, withoit proof of employment or stable self-employment income (with receipts), they deny your request.
If you are not in Portugal, you need to give someone power of attorney, giving that person the authority to obtain the declaration of no record on your behalf.
Thanks for the info. The first time I requested a NISS, I don’t recall being asked to create an account / set a password. I also never received any confirmation email of my request. I just found the page to check the status but it requires an order ID which I don’t have.
So I submitted a second request and made sure to save the order ID so I can check the status later (and again did not receive a confirmation email).
I applied online for NISS on SEP 14,25, received Email response OCT 5,25 with an order number saying Registered, and on FEB 4,26 another Email saying Validated. Now more than six months have passed and I am still waiting. I can see on the web site that the current status is listed as Data to be Confirmed. It seems that this process is extremely slow.
I also submitted requests for my wife and I a month or so ago, didn’t save the number because I foolishly assumed competence and that I would get an email. No such luck.
I submitted again just now, saved the number it gave me.
Supposedly this is supposed to be a quick process of a few days, according to folks on reddit, but that isn’t our experience, of course. Maybe I’ll stop at a loja da cidadão and see if I can shake my applications loose somehow.
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