I have a Portuguese GV and would like to hear from anyone who has applied for citizenship with an ARI residency.
I’ve been repeatedly told that the application date is based on the date on my first residency card, but someone mentioned that it’s actually the date my residency was approved. Anyone with experience on that?
I’ve heard approvals are happening more quickly now. Any sense on that?
I’m also trying to get a sense of attorney fees for (successful) citizenship applications. I’ve heard all sorts of different numbers! I’m aware that I can do it myself, particularly since I’ve been living in Portugal for several years - and that’s not my question so no need to comment to that effect. I’m specifically asking for attorney fees - and I’ll accept recommendations as well!
Better to do it via lawyer or notary, because online application could be done only via authorised representative, and definitely online application is much faster on the stage 1-2 (received and registerred). 2 months vs 1 year. If you do it yourself, you could only do it by regular mail.
Not clear if online application speeds up the whole process, but I’ve heard that lawyer/notary scans the docs and verifies that scans correspond to real ones, while in case of mail application Conservatoria does it itself. So I guess it should speed up the process significantly. Just imagine 50-100 thousands applications annualy with 10-20 pages to scan.
I would definitely choose online application.
I submitted before that option, so could not comment about the current tariffs, but rule of thumb is that GV lawyers may charge twice more than normal ones and there is nothing that prevent you to change the lawyer.