I’ve seen other card types boast about receiving their renewals within 3 months. But with Golden Visa, offline renewals for over 8 months already. Online renewals have also been stalled for nearly three months now. I’m losing patience every day.
1 Like
I applied on April 8th and the site still says “Application Pending Evaluation/Pedido Aguarda Avaliação” and I can change my documents.
I applied for my kids on May 13th and almost immediately it went under “Application being evaluated” and could not change the documents.
Did yours go through Application Pending Evaluation and then Application being evaluated stage? Does anyone know if this is normal?
I think it might make sense to contact AIMA at this point and wonder if there is an issue that mine is stuck and not going to evaluation stage!
1 Like
you and I renewed at the same time. I applied for my kid on April 30th. The situation has remained unchanged since then.
I think evaluation is ok, because it takes few months for them to process it. My problem is that my application has not even gone to the Evaluation stage! So I contacted AIMA about it, will see if they fix it.
1 Like
My issue is I can’t even initiate an application. My lawyer has contacted AIMA about it… Card expires in 2 weeks.
1 Like
Just wondering if you’ve now been able to proceed with your ARI permit renewal process? We are also about to start as we’re now within the 90 days of card expiry, so hopefully there won’t be any issues.
Update information: My online renewal process has exceeded the 3-month mark and is still in the analysis stage. My husband’s in-person card renewal process, which started in October at AIMA Cacém, has also not resulted in him receiving his card. My husband waited in line for hours at the Centro de Atendimento AIMA Porto and was told they weren’t in charge of ARI. He asked which office handled ARI, and they replied that they didn’t know, that information about ARI was top secret. It’s pointless to waste time, effort, and money applying for a golden visa in this country. How is everyone’s process going?
5 Likes
My online renewal is also over 90 days now, without any updates.
I asked my lawyers if I could / should start a court case over the delay. This is the same firm that won a case for me about the delay in issuing my first card about 2 years ago.
However, on this renewal application they advised against a case for the time being, and suggested a timeline of 6 / 8 mths could be expected for online renewal.
I’m interested to hear what others expirence too.
1 Like
Do you think this will be helpful? In this country, the first quarter is holidays, the second quarter is strikes, the third quarter is summer vacation, and the fourth quarter is about to have another holiday, so when do they actually work?
1 Like
Update that there is no update so far. No idea when/how the problem will be solved…
2 Likes
My renewal went through seemingly issue free back in May. We couldn’t get the dependents renewed due to, first, an AIMA error on the portal, then some unforeseen lawyer-type issues. Both dependents have now received their payment links and payments have been made. Now AIMA have either misplaced the payments or have delayed applying them to their renewals as they aren’t showing on their accounts. My wife has been waiting over 2 weeks for this to happen.
Fortunately coming in and out of Faro hasn’t proven to be an issue for them and their expired cards and no QR codes.
3 Likes
I was told the same thing. Same for offline renewals done before the new system came online. I’m at 7 months now after an in person renewal in Lisbon. Only upside is we don’t have to travel to Portugal while we don’t have valid cards (although I know that causes headaches for some).
1 Like
This may or may not be true. For the first card, certainly it is the case. But for renewals, I would not follow this advice. One, if you are getting credit for residence time for the period between cards there is argument that you must also meet stay requirements. I have seen no official statement from AIMA that you do not have to meet stay requirements during periods of having no physical card but while you have proof of renewal.
More important, there have been reported cases that cards were issued 11 months prior but the applicant didn’t know as the card was sitting in the AIMA office waiting to be picked up. Try explaining to AIMA during a renewal that you didnt meet the stay requirements because you didn’t realize that you had a valid card already issued.
4 Likes
So basically, online renewal isn’t any improvement over offline renewal…
2 Likes
The only advantage of online renewal is that one does not neet to show up physically at Aima’a office. So it does save time and money especially for ones who do not live in Portugal full time. The processing time is likely the same as before (taking up from monhs to years) and does not improve at all. Basically the renewal application still needs to be reviewed/analysed by the same department i.e. by the same people with the same attitude and ability as before. I would recommend that we keep our expectation & hope low.
4 Likes
Hello everyone!
My renewal process is now approved and finalized. Waiting for the card to be delivered.
I started the process back in February.
It went to Consulta UCFE stage on May 2nd (or 3rd).
And now after 5 months it is “Deferido” (which means “Approved”).
P.S. I’ve seen reports of other applications from March and April being approved recently.
6 Likes
It’s unbelievable that the process was accepted but then postponed. 
a crazy system. But perhaps you misunderstand the phrase Pedido Deferido? From what I see, your application has been approved and completed. Did you receive an email notifying you that the process is complete and that you can wait to receive your card?
Hmm…not sure what you mean. Deferido = Approved.
Like I said, it is now Approved (Deferido), and yes I received an email saying that now I need to wait for the card to be delivered to my home address.
1 Like
Oh, congratulations! Because initially I read and understood that the system had approved it and then temporarily postponed it.
Please let me know when you receive the card.
1 Like
With all respect, I’m going to push back on that Paul. I think you’re conflating different legal concepts around ‘lawful residence’ and ‘stay requirements’ for the purposes of renewal. The fact that a pending renewal period is treated as lawful residence doesn’t necessarily mean that the minimum stay requirement attached to an ARI card also continues to apply during that period.
I’ve received legal advice from a Big Four firm that where the previous card has expired and the renewed permit has not yet been issued, there is no current permit period against which the stay requirement runs. That’s the approach they have taken with all their ARI clients for many years. I’ve acted on that advice since 2020 without issue (and am now in the citizenship queue).
The absence of a specific public AIMA statement doesn’t make the contrary view correct. What matters is how the law is interpreted and applied in practice.
The example you raise where a card has already been issued but is sitting in a drawer at AIMA is a very different legal question. That may be a legally effective ARI even though the applicant doesn’t yet have the physical card. It doesn’t mean that the stay requirement applies during the earlier period before the renewed card had been issued.
In any event, I’d encourage people to seek advice from their lawyers rather than drawing conclusions from the absence of a specific AIMA statement on this point. What it cost in legal fees has saved me a lot of money in unnecessary travel.