My approach will be step-by-step. When I get to final approval, Iāll judge the benefit of paying for the first card. Then make the same calculation at each renewal. At the moment, the option value seems OK. And governments come and go. Weāll see. Iām glad with hindsight I went for a readily-saleable fund investment, so I can dump it if circumstances change.
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Yes, agreed. Anyone going for the non open ended highly liquid funds is insane imo
Or in some cases ill-informed. Based on the texts Iāve been receiving, the sales pitch has gone from āInvest in my hotel scheme - itās how you can get a PGVā to āInvest in my venture capital fundā¦ā I think some folk get the pitch, and never realise there are alternatives.
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It is very very unlikely, because it will be special D2 ARI visa with the different requirement to spend just 14 days in 2 years in Portugal. So high fees is a must!
The fact that there is no fees for those special D2 means nothing.
- GV on investment that are eligible under the new law need to be renewed. They continue to be GV. Should be fees.
- All fees increased by 30%, not just GV.
- They have not determined yet how to do conversion if needed. And thus - no fees yet.
We are in the same state, no new info from the fee increase. Wait and see.
Iām with Sam on this one. The Portuguese government has outright lied and started dragging GV investors through the dirt. Costa has gone full Vader, āI am altering the deal, pray I do not alter it furtherā. I no longer trust them and I warn friends in similar economic circumstances to run far away from Portugal.
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Ok, so run where? 
Itās kinda funny you say āno longer trust themā as if another government someplace else can be ātrustedā?
E.g. do you think the UK government could be ātrustedā as they never āaltered the dealā perhaps? Well, just look up āHSMP court caseā.
The truth is no one can be trusted nowhere.
All you do it calculate your perceived risk vs. your risk appetite and take a plunge (or not).
And by the way, the deal here in PT was not really altered in the end, and whatās a 30% increase on a $5k fee for a $350k+ investment? Yea, maybe worth noticing for a few seconds and a frown, but no more really.
There are still plenty of things (investments) to do both in PT and elsewhere, so no time or reason for any negativity.
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Agree with you and I believe that the main issue in PT GV is no threat 30% increase in the fees rather it is the delay in the approval process: SEF are still pre-approving Dec 2021 applications.
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While you are correct about my choices, Portugal continues to give people good reason to be pessimistic. Wholly blaming my GV path is pretty unfair.
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Simply put, there is value in warning others.
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Reply from my lawyer (Catarina Garrett at AGPC)
We are equally frustrated with all these recent changes. We knew and always warned that SEF could change the fees but wasnĀ“t expected them to change as much as they did.
We are analysing if there is a chance to legally or through a judicial process we can stop this for happening - at least for the concessions fee for which they are incredibly late. For the renewals we find it hard to avoid.
Regarding the issuing of the card, it is possible to force them issuing the card as they surpassed all the deadlines - this will be possible through a law suit, but cannot say for sure if they will apply the previous concessionĀ“s fees. But weĀ“ll ask the court any way.
We estimate the lawsuit may cost around 950ā¬ + 204ā¬ court fees and it is possible to recover part of the expenses (around 500ā¬).
Do you want us to move forward with the lawsuit? We can jump on a call first, if you prefer to discuss this topic further.
Iāve replied with the following
I didnāt want to bother suing the SEF but if weāre going to, there are a few things Iād address. Can we argue the following all at once?
I was legally entitled to the residency visa on X date (some months ago, we have to calculate exactly when)
Because of 1, I am meaningfully harmed by the slowness of the SEF in the following ways
a. I am forced to pay higher fees for the initial card for both my wife and I
b. I should have started the clock for a citizenship application on X date
c. I must spend money and time suing the SEF
- In order to make me whole with respect to A/B/C therefore
a. The SEF should immediately provide the residency permit for my wife and I, at the original cost (I agree, renewals weāll probably have to pay the new cost for, thatās ok)
b. The residency permit should be backdated to the X date above when I shouldāve originally been granted the permit (or the clock for my citizenship application should begin then - Iām unsure how to phrase this, but thatās your job
))
c. The government should pay for the cost of this lawsuit which is only necessary because of the unfair and illegal treatment Iām receiving
āā
Iām also concerned because of suing the SEF right before they are replaced. What are your thoughts on that?
About how long would you expect this sort of lawsuit to take?
Lastly, there are likely going to be many people interested in this sort of lawsuit on the nomadgate forum. Is there any advantage or discount if we get a number of people to file basically the same suit? I know Portugal doesnāt have class action lawsuits but perhaps you can write up a template basically
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950euros for the lawyerās fee to sue SEF seems very reasonable! Elsewhere Iāve seen an average of 3k, lowest 2k.
Please update us with what you hear back from your lawyer; as these are excellent points and Iām sure many of us would like to do the same.
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I just reached out to my lawyers as well. Iāll let you know what they say as well.
In relation to clawing back the extra fee given the failure to meet the 90 day deadline, my lawyer responds:
āI believe that you have grounds to pursue to recover the difference after the payment. Nevertheless, this would need to be analyzed carefully in terms of timing, costs and changes of success.ā
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Was exactly what I was thinking.
If possible, that makes a lot of sense. Do keep us posted Chris
Seems like big dreaming to have them start your residency when you āshouldā have had your card. Could destroy their entire system.
Good luck!
Iāve yet to hear back, agreed that it seems like it would be technically difficult for the poor sef and maybe me haha
I propose the clock retroactively starts on your application date, once approved.
I had decided that we wouldnāt do a lawsuit, but with the ridiculous delays for Lisbon right now, and these new fees, I am beginning to change my mind. Iāve reached out to our lawyers on this - if they come back with hemming and hawing, or fees much greater than the ones quoted above, I might reach out to AGPC as well and see if they will take on a new client! Thanks for sharing this information!