It costs money.
If you have completed 5 years, then a lawsuit to get an appointment for Permanent Residency would be best. Then your PR card will last 5 years which most likely gives enough times for citizenship process.
I am not yet at 5th year. But that’s what I will do for sure. Applying citizenship at the same time filing a lawsuit for getting an appointment of PR.
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Great comment, thanks for info,
How long would it possibly take from filing lawsuit to get PR appointment till getting the pr card?
I wish I could give you the answer. I’ve never ever seen/read anything/anyone regarding a lawsuit for PR appointment. I bet that people prefer to renew their card and wait for their citizenship to save money. Not many people want to throw away few Ks. With all bureaucracy, it would be ideal to get results from court within 6 months and maybe another 6 months to receive the card. But who am I to say…
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PR slots are very limited for all types of residency for 4 years now, not only GV. Cost is defo a factor to consider. I vaguely remember last time I checked GV PR fee, it was close to 8K euros (plz correct me if I’m wrong). On top of that, legal fee totalling around 3K per head? Can you imagine the scenario where someone first gets to sue to push GV approval and then for GV renewal. Way too much.
You have to consider that if your card is about to be expired in next 3-6 months. You now have 02 options to renew it. Normal one costs 6k and validity of 2 years only. Or the PR one costs 9k with 5 years validity. If it is automatic renew (without lawsuit involve), then normal auto renew is good to go.
However, if normal one does not go automatically, you must file a lawsuit. Then if it has to do with lawsuit, why not go for the PR one? Lawsuit becomes a standard thing to get things moving. Difference between normal (6k) and PR (9k) is 3k but the latter one gives you 5 years which is a huge peace in the chaotic world.
Didnt last auto-renewal cost 3 or 4K…But certainly you could do that yah. It’s too late for me now. My citizenship request has been ongoing for 1 year now. With another renewal lasting 2 years, which will take all my sweat and blood to achieve, I shall get out fine. Unless citizenship process gonna take 50 years to complete 
, I would not need PR at this point.
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I am also interested. Please keep updating your plan here. After I get the citizenship, I also plan to take up more actions i.e. sue-ing portugal in the EU courts. As long as the court fee is not more than 10K, I am happy to throw that money away to see another circus show.
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you simply cant sue a country and your case shall not be accepted at the EU level. You should sue the appropriate authority within Portugal on a valid case by case basis to fight your cause. 10K is more than enough for a residency/citizenship based issues.
I am not a lawyer and of course my wordings are not precise as it should be. However, I am not going to be a pioneer on this. I will wait until someone activates a nuclear weapon. Then I will activate mine as well. With all damages that have been caused due to delay/bureaucracy, I would be more than happy to see that investors get compensated by the portuguese authority.
As a guy living in a one-party nation,I wish I could be told the three rights of separation, namely legislation, judiciary, and enforcement are not a fairy tale.
The lawsuit fees should be borne by the losing party at least…
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This is not my understanding after having a few discussions with my lawyer, but perhaps I am misunderstanding. It’s a low priority for me at the moment
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You can sue the state, not in EU courts or ICJ but in Portugal itself. The case shall be filed against the government and not AIMA or SEF stating that in the name of offering residency through investment, the Portugal government is running an elaborate scam in cohorts with visa agents, law firms and the portuguese judiciary itself.
Wherein unsuspecting and vulnerable investors who may not be even geographically present within the territory of Portugal are lured to invest in loss making return real estate or funds and the promised residency (which is the primary objective of these applicants) is kept pending while other residency processes are prioritised.
The state through the machinery and means (including media) available at its disposal advertises the program as being investor friendly but leaves no stone unturned to vilify the already aggrieved investors using the same media and institutions.
These GV applicants who invested in good faith relying solely on the promise and the government committed timeline of 3-6 months of granting visa now stand at huge monetary loss and stare at an uncertain future.
Similar premise can be used for citizenship.
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No, my lawyer was fairly clear it was suing the Portuguese State in some EU court, but again I didn’t dig too deeply
It might be possible to sue the Portuguese government in Portugal too, but my lawyer was pessimistic about that
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This is exactly the claim I want to make. Add to it that the only way to “force” the government to make good on its promises is to undertake a lawsuit and its additional costs.
@anon45457555 , have you found a law firm willing to make this claim?
They say it is written in the law. And every lawyer also advises you about having a valid residency during the whole process. B
I do not need to be convinced about this part anymore tbh. I’m more interested to know how to fight the reality where GV renewal is back to paralyse.
I think we all may write complaints to everybody and everywhere. Government, minister of internal affairs, public prosecutor - to speed the solution. If your investment is not real estate or real estate funds - you could sue AIMA!
Thanks Mr. E!
I have contacted Legalsquare. Did they help you apply for the AIMA letter proving your 5-year legal residency? If yes, how long did it take to get the letter? Can you please share your experience? 
Dear Feli,
if you work with a lawyer; they should be handling all the paper-work and making the relevant requests and yes for my case, they specifically asked for “contagem de tempo”
I recall them quoting a time frame of a month, but in the end they did receive it quicker… Yet again this took place during summer 2023… Since covid each year seems to have its own timelines.
In my case, I only needed to provide them the criminal check, language certificate, birth certificate + “colored copy/scan of passport’s first page”", rest should be handled by the lawyer.