There is a lot of talk about visa-free travel in this thread so I thought I might contribute some of my own experience. I have already completed biometrics but still waiting for final approval and residence card, and I hold a passport that would normally require a visa to enter the EU. I have exited Schengen twice at Lisbon airport, once on a residence permit from another EU country where I was working, and once on the biometrics receipt. Both times I asked the border control agent whether I would be allowed to come back to Portugal with the biometrics receipt, and both times I had unequivocal positive answers (once the agent had to ask her colleague).
And today I came back to Lisbon and cleared passport control with exactly the biometrics receipt. The border agent was initially confused and had to confer with his colleague, but the whole thing was done in a just a few minutes, no questions asked. I also didnât have any problems checking in to my flight with biometrics receipt. Check-in agent took the piece of paper and asked no questions. It was with Qatar airways.
So, obviously this is a one-off experience, but it seems to be a consensus at least at Lisbon airport that the biometrics receipt is a valid travel document in lieu of a visa or residence card.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
May I ask one question? Did you fly from Asia to Lisbon(with a transit in Doha - Qatar) by Qatar Airline today? or did your flight consist of one flight (without any transit) from Doha Qatar to Lisbon?
It was from Africa, I was away on holiday. 
A bit of a risky move, but I thought the opinions I got from both my lawyer and the border agents were unanimous, so the only potential obstacle would be QR not issuing me a boarding pass. At the end, everything was surprisingly smooth.
Thanks for your sharing. It is very helpful information⊠
Just another question - do you normally live in Portugal ? Did you apply for the ARI before 31 Dec 2021? Did your lawyer indicate either of those things matter ?
- Short answer yes. Long answer I usually have a residence permit tied to my job in another EU country, but Iâm now between two jobs so living in Portugal in the interim.
- Yes.
- Lawyer didnât say either way.
We GVs are so back of the queueâŠ
Also in the queue, with slower service, are 50,000 Golden Visa investors and their family members, who are entitled to a residence permit. The Government chose to leave this group until the end, considering the processes less complex.
And due to wrap-up soon (because theyâre done?!??): that big âmission structure, led by former AIMA president LuĂs Goes Pinheiro⊠created by the Government with the aim of reducing all these processes to zero by the summer of this year.â [or perhaps now just by 30%?]
Hundreds of thousands of applicants referred to in this article, but zero GVs. So no surprise if your application continues to be ignoredâŠ
Not really a surprise coming from populists left and right. But it was surprisingly nasty coming from the employee of a company in the rentseeking business trying to sell its services 
Consider whether the following scenario constitutes immigration fraud: Suppose I owned a tiny shop in Martim Moniz back in 2023 (with no need for any employee other than myself), and my second cousin in Bangladesh wanted to move to Portugal through MI. So we came to an agreement that his mother would pay my mother the equivalent of EUR1500 per month back in Bangladesh, and I would âhireâ him for EUR1000 in Portugal: (1) with a signed employment contract, (2) real money is paid to cousin and social security, and (3) cousin never does any actual work in my shop.
So why isnât below tax fraud? Consideration is paid (100k), company would not have agreed to hire me / put me on the Board otherwise, and Portugal loses tax revenue.
Itâs not immigration or tax fraud if they follow the laws as they are written.
But it is an example of how pointless these policies can be, and how their only real accomplishment is to enrich rent-seekers while being sold to the public as something entirely different.
Sadly, the enrichment of rent-seekers tends to be the result of most populist and protectionist policies in general. And in many cases, this is exactly the true goal of such policies from the moment they are conceived.
Has anybody tried using the âPortal da Queixaâ (seems a PT version of Trustpilot) described in this article to complain to AIMA? If yes did you have any success from it?
https://www.portugalresident.com/complaints-against-aima-surge-by-37/
Complaints against AIMA surge by 37%
According to data from Portugalâs complaints portal, Portal da Queixa, the platform received 593 complaints about the agency between January and April â a significant rise compared to 432 complaints in the last four months of 2024. And the problems appear far from over: as of May 12, another 100 complaints had already been submitted.
Reading through various âresolvedâ AIMA complaints, some of them would be better described as âabandoned,â not resolved. Others do report back later that they got what they needed⊠but perhaps by other means (email, phone, lawyer) or just coincidence. I donât get the sense that AIMA reads these complaints and actions them - heck AIMA ignores 99% of the emails sent directly to them, so why would they read these Portal da Queixa posts?
Unlike the official âyellow bookâ for complaints about PT public entities, peopleâs complaints on Portal da Queixa are laid out in shocking detail - their full names, kidsâ names, sometimes NIFs, MI application numbers, etc. I realise weâre all desperate for any help from AIMA, but omg donât post that personal info on a public website.
âŠso Iâm thinking Portal da Queixa is just another outlet to whinge about AIMA, but wonât actually get AIMA to do anything?
At least on Portal da Queixa, it ends up in the newsâŠ
PdQ is something sort of like the BBB in the us, or yelp. It only has power because itâs a popular complaint board and businesses donât like showing up there. I wouldnât expect much from AIMA in response to a post there