Itâs not a terrible idea if you already wanted to donate a million to Portuguese cancer research and donât mind a GV âon the sideâ.
But if you just want an EU passport, the same donation can get you a Maltese passport in just 1 year, which is a much better deal than a GV at the same price.
The only advantage of GV vs Malta is it is a more âbudget optionâ. If youâre paying Malta prices for GV level benefits, youâre being scammed.
OMG, cry me a river Pedro⊠
âFew institutions are under pressure like AIMA has been,â said Pedro Portugal Gaspar [AIMA President], who also lamented the pressure coming from the Judiciary, with thousands filing lawsuits to request the scheduling of their processes.
âItâs not that weâre afraid of legal actionâ, but âit doesnât make sense for administrative and documentary processes to be resolved in courtâ.
AIMA to send 78,000 rejection notices to immigrants - The Portugal News
True, it doesnât make sense that we had to sue a government agency to just do its job per its own service timelines (i.e. 90 days and all those other lies we were told). But thatâs how ridiculously broken your agency (still) is!
Few institutions are as inefficient as AIMA and erstwhile SEF have been.
SEF was efficient and effective, SEF has appointments sufficient for everyone and appointments only takes 40 minutes.
SEF from which universe r u referring to? We are talking about the one on planet Earth based out of Portugal.
up until 2019, before the Gov of PT start the idea of replacing SEF with AIMA, SEF has been quite good, my ARI and my parentsâ ARI are all on time and from pre-apply to issue cards all done within 6 months and always possible to find renewal appointments, from COVID and then the emergence of AIMA, things slide fast
You are an exception, we are the norm.
âSIC NotĂcias which is carrying a report on the dissatisfaction of immigrants with AIMA. âThey say the situation is getting worse and worse. Many sleep outside the doors, and even then there are those who donât get seenâ (when the doors finally open for the day), says the station.
The Porto outlet, for example, âjust cannot copeâ. It currently has 10 members of staff, only six of which are available to see people without a prior booking,
Immigrants affected by this level of service say the AIMA website is also no help at all: emails/ calls, they are simply never answered.â
AIMA employeesâ response? Quit the agencyâŠ
https://www.portugalresident.com/immigration-agencys-new-intake-already-putting-in-for-transfers/
Couple other points from that article help explain why - despite the âmissionâ to work through the backlog - we only see a trickle of approvalsâŠ
- AIMAâs current staff, comprising 674 people, is just 2% higher than in October 2023 when the institution was created after SEF
- There is âcomplete disorder in terms of procedures, organisation and planningâ and as a result, a great deal of antipathy within the ranks.
âŠso not that many more âhands on deckâ after all. And no surprise that âregulationsâ are interpreted in such a random manner by AIMA staff.
The worst thing is that lawyers keep adding hope and avoiding revealing the reality to the potential clients. 
The same BS is happening with the new process which people have to re-upload all the documents to get scheduled for the biometrics. Now after over 1 month, no one gets any appointment. In addition to this, from the middle of nowhere Aima started annoucing that they prioritise regularlisar 200k CPLP and as the consequence of this BS, GV falls back to end of the queue. At the beginning, some lawyers in this forum even said that it was great effort by Aima to solve the backlog. Now they keep quiet like a rat.
Small correction, 1.5 months and not 1 month as claimed by you.
those days gone long back
Its been a long process for me, applied 12/2021. 1/2025 final approval and I am hoping my card comes in the next 3-4 months? Probably 9-12 months before my 12/2021 application, it didnât take this long, but tons of us got stuck due to covid and an abundance of applications. Luckily for me, I am now just becoming able to make the move(still working). For all of the people who sold everything to afford this and were ready to move, it has been horrible. I really think ALL applications should be addressed as submitted, not just D7âs and D8âs. I am looking forward to taking the PLA A1-2 courses for citizenship application 12/2026. I am very fortunate to have had a ton of air miles to travel 2-3 times a year but the frustration of waiting is horrible. I do have to laugh as I was looking on line at the south of France to maybe check out as well LOL. I invested in 3 modest apartments and once I fulfill my requirements for the GV/Citizenship, I may be ready for France? Hold on, things are moving.
Confirmation that GV/ARI investors are at the back of the queue, behind those already in PT and 220,000 CPLPsâŠ
Backlog of cases awaiting documents âreached close to 900,000â, says LeitĂŁo Amaro
February 26, 2025, PĂșblico BrasilThe minister confirmed that residence permits for investment were postponed. âOur decision was to give priority, first, to those who were in Portugal without any decision. Therefore, they were the ones who expressed their interest. Next, the CPLP citizens, who had documents that were not cards and, therefore, did not grant freedom of movement,â he revealed.
The difference is that many of these 900,000 people have shown up in Portugal wanting a better life without necessarily giving anything to Portugal. I have no issue there and wish them well. Many of us, on the other hand, invested 500.000 euros to make Portugal a better country, based on a promise from the government that we would receive residence permits and more. A promise that - thus far - has gone unfulfilled. This is a disgrace.
But wait, i thought there was a special queue for GV? if not, how would 1.5 month timeline for scheduling biometrics work?
If AIMA believed their own fantasies that might work 
Itâs shocking to me that people are still considering investing in Portugal after so many broken promises, year after year after year. Yet Portugal spends tens of thousands of euros to promote the country as a good place to invest. Perhaps there needs to be a publicized counterpoint to this narrative.
Simply because of it s citizenship law
All arou d are seeking European citizenship
And the less constraining law is the Portuguese one
The Wikipedia article on Portuguese Golden Visa is at least somewhat realistic.
Every time a news article about the delays comes out I would encourage someone to add that to the Wikipedia article as a reference.
Wikipedia is highly ranked by Google so people are more likely to find these articles if theyâre linked from Wikipedia