According to his posts, Ray seems to have gone through at least one renewal.
well well - I was just here to write that the program seemed to be functional if you have joined btw 2015-2018 but to my surprise I realize that there are few for whom the program has not functioned in the way it was supposed to..
To provide a data point, Iâve joined the program in 2018 and if things go right I should have my citizenship approved within months - but one can never be 100% sure about the final approval.. One of my close friend has applied in 2021 Oct and she is yet to receive her first residency card, despite the fact that her bio was done in early Jan 2023.. - Since the start almost 4 year has passed and this is a single person applying for the GV.. This just does not seem fair by any standards.
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I started the process in December 2015 in Algarve. After waiting for three years, my real estate agent and lawyer suggested I move my application to Lisbon, saying it would be faster. Looking back, I think it was a mistake to accept that advice.
I reapplied in March 2019 and only received my first residence card in April 2022, which I then renewed in August 2024 for another three years. Based on the new law, I applied for citizenship in September 2024 (officially shows online on October 27, 2024). My application is currently at Stage 1, and from what I can tell, it likely wonât move forward until at least early 2027.
I also asked my lawyer to request a contagem, and they told me they had applied for it last year but havenât received a response. When I asked them to apply again, they claimed the officials advised not to reapply in order to avoid âclogging the system,â which honestly feels like an excuse.
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Dear Rahaskli,
In my mind your case is a good reference point for the ones who applied via Expression of interest - which says that 5 year clock starts from the day you apply - I read that sometimes this is referred as file-lock especially among Indian community. From what I read the law was passed but without the back-legislation, and there are some who argue that in reality the law was never really implemented, it stayed on paper as there was not the intention to implement it - I read that the legislation was âimportedâ from an overarching EU legislation.
Because of the above, I have to say Iâm bit suspicious about that contagem de tempo response of your lawyers, you should really follow it up.. Your case seems to have been submitted without the contagem de tempo, and if you really push for it, it would be great to see which date they will use to start the clock.
By the way, yes Iâve seen emails in which people are asked not to send multiple emails in order to not to cause clogging in the system, but I know many who has sent tens of emails till they get a response..
PS: If you donât have a contagem de tempo showing 5 years of residence, this might become a real issue in the latter stages of your application.
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Youâve set a record. It took you 7 years to get the first card after putting down the investment. And it should be well noted that you started in 2015!!! There wasnât Covid. There wasnât influx of Manifestação de Interesse. There wasnât war Russia-Ucraine. It was 100% under normal operating condition and it took 7 years!!! 
The good thing is that you have already submitted citizenshipâs application. I wish you a speedy outcome.
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Rahaskliâs case shows most clearly all the misrepresentations (lies) and delusions we have been fed throughout this process. The system wasnât even functioning properly before Manifestaçao or COVID or Ukraine!!
I just regret believing in itâŚ
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So do we. Some of the stories here are shocking, simply shocking. 
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The most recent shared story about debanking issue is here:
It is frightening and heart-breaking after reading this. I do not even know what to say anymore.
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Yes, this highlights the sheer incompetence of the lawyers, real estate agents, and officials involved!
And of course, people like us are the ones who ended up paying the highest price for this disaster. We werenât even desperate â my wife and kids are Spanish, so Portuguese citizenship was never some life-or-death necessity. But after dragging us through years of confusion, delays, and chaos â and after losing what easily amounts to âŹ1.5â2 million in opportunity costs â now I want it more than ever.
And itâs not just for me. I want it for my kids before they turn into adults and the door slams shut. At this point, Portuguese citizenship feels like some absurdly overpriced trophy â shiny, yes, but bought at the cost of blood, sweat, and money weâll never get back. Honestly, itâs less about what the passport gives us and more about not letting this whole ordeal turn out to be for nothing
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Honestly, from the get-go, when Portugal opened up shop for the Golden Visa â or really, for other immigrant pathways too â they should have had their ducks in a row. A country ought to know whatâs in its best interest and what isnât. Instead, by creating laws that basically roll out the red carpet for illegal immigrants and then offering them a way to âclean the slateâ with job offers, theyâve ended up digging themselves into a hole.
If Portugal truly needs low-skill or blue-collar workers to keep the wheels turning â whether itâs in services, construction, or hospitality â then the sensible thing would be to have straightforward visa categories for that. Set the rules clearly, give people fair treatment, and let them contribute without dangling some half-baked loophole. Or, if the idea is just temporary labor, issue non-immigrant work visas, let folks do their job, and then rotate the system properly.
Right now, it feels like theyâre trying to patch a leaky roof with duct tape â short-term fixes that only create bigger messes down the line. And at the end of the day, no one seems to know which way is up, and that uncertainty just hurts everyone involved
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True, Iâm just staying hopeful. From what Iâve read in other posts, people who got theirs through AIMA had their dates counted from the date of acceptance. Iâm also optimistic, because the new law they were trying to push would have changed the dates back to starting from card issuanceâbut that hasnât actually taken effect. So technically, the law I applied under is still valid, else why would they attempt to change it. That said, none of us really know anything for sure. Everything feels unpredictable, the rules seem unclear, and honestly, the whole process is just a mess.
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He who is incompetent always wants to have his cake and eat it too.
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Thank you very much for having shared your story here. Is there any particular reason that you and your kids want to have portuguese citizenship? As you said, your kids are already Spanish. I assume that they also have spanish citizenship. I am not sure what additional features/benefits (that you can have by having a portuguese citizenship on top of the spanish one) are.
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I donât think Spain allows dual citizenship whereas Portugal does.
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In my case, the block lasted about 52 weeks, also with Novobanco. There are plenty pan-European regulations that often require blocking of âsuspectedâ accounts due to political winds blowing across EU headquarters. Portuguese banks simply comply, with little to no thought or interpretation of individual circumstances. However, once my Residency Card was finally issued, the block was promptly removed.
Unfortunately, this is just something you have to accept if you want to live in Europe in general.
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I have lived in 4 countries in the EU over the last 20 years.
I further can state that I have never heard of any such issues outside the Portuguese borders.
As far as I am concerned the issue has nothing to do with the EU at all.
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Things have gotten a lot worse in the last few years. The United States is really cracking the whip. Many banks are simply choosing not to accept Americans as customers, no matter their circumstances, and are even closing out longstanding American customers. Itâs a ton of extra risk and hassle. Even American banks have gotten a lot more suspicious about opening new accounts for routine wage-earning, bill-paying American customers.
As with other sorts of national priorities, this has infected the Europeans with their own zeal for financial regulatory excess. You might find banks in those other European countries less relaxed, less accommodating today.
You may find this article illuminating:
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FACTA makes it very difficult for US citizens to open accounts or make many non-US investments.
My non US family have no problems with banks.
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Yes they have spanish passports, infact they have 3 passports, they donât need portuguese, but since i have burnt money they might as well.
that also is true!!!
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