Regarding the new law. The government needs to issue regulation that AIMA could apply to issue correct contagem de tempo under new rules. Before that it is unlikely you could use your waiting period to apply for citizenship.
We need to take into account that immediately after that we will see flood of people who will start queuing in AIMA for contagem de tempo and then applying for citizenship. And all those people will be in our group: artigo 6.1 tempo da residência.
Why is that? The problem is the following: currently people may come to Portugal with usual Shengen visa, create an entrepreneurial project, express interest to receive residence (manifestação) and later submit for resident card inside of Portugal. But they will have to wait about 2 years between manifestação and application for residence. They live in Portugal, work and pay taxes. Now, this waiting period will be included into 5 yr legal residence period. So we will see people from roughly three years to submit for citizenship.
I expect that waiting time on our article will move fast from the shortest to the longest.
On the other way they are trying to automatize everything. Will see. But first it should deteriorate significantly before improve. Unfortunately.
Thank you . My question maybe was not very clear . I am asking about citizenship process. On the Justice web site it mentions 2-3 year period along with periodic timeline. My process is lagging behind the timelines mentioned. Can anyone help in how to communicate with the authorities to push the process or understand the delays . Thanks
You have the password (senha) to follow the process, right? If yes, you could look at what conservatory you file is and you could write e-mail directly to this conservatory. Better in portuguese. You need to mention the number of your process, name and the article and just ask what is the status of your process. Do not use lawyers for that. Better to do it personally.
If not, ask your lawyers to give you this senha. At what stage are you stuck?
Ah! How long are you at stage 7? You are in ACP? This is the problem here. The have started to implement automatic system and looks like stopped issuing registry for all articles except filhos. And even filhos wait from the June 2023. In February they have issued via that automatic system some number of assentos ne nascimento, and they are all with mistakes. So currently, they are correcting the mistakes in that group and also correct the software. If you are at 7, there is no point even to write to them. You will receive the automatic reply. About 40 thousands of people wait those assentos de nascimento. Infelizmente!
In future this assento de nascimento will be issued automatically after approval.
We are at various stages ( 8.5 months , 6.5 months , 5.5 months ). Urgency is I want to avoid going through a renewal of my Golden Visa . Do you know how long it will take to start issuing assentos ne nascimento.
Well, the guy from brazilean forum who explained the sitiation, was saying first, that in March they will finish with all backlog in filhos, and in April would start other articles. In reality, they do not start printing more assentos in March or April. Only correcting. Now that guy says wait till end of April.
I am quite sceptical. Looks like they have issued 10-20 k of assentos with errors. And even have not informed people about that. People with the processes aproved in the 2H of 2023 gradually get info that some assentos were issued. It is about 40-50 k of them waiting. They all started to write e-mails to conservatories. Most receive that reply that new system is being implemented bla-bla-bla. Some receive the assento with error. Write new e-mail to correct the error. Conservatory does it. It is not very efficient process. I have no idea how much does it take((
P.S. If you application is approved you may not renew your golden visa. Technically you are almost citizen. Only not existing in the system))
P.P.S. Those certificates with errors were issued only for article of filhos. With tempo de residencia it is not worth even to write to them
Just want to add my experience. I applied for nationality through a lawyer, done online, on March 16. Six days later I received my login credentials for the tracker and I was already on stage 2 (green). So far, so good.
I did not submit a Contagem de Tempo. I simply failed in every attempt to obtain one. The receptionist at my local AIMA office here in Portugal said I don’t need it, my lawyer said I don’t need it, everyone on the Portuguese language Facebook groups about nationality said I don’t need it. My former lawyer and some people here at NomadGate said I should get one and submit it. I tried every way possible to obtain one, but no one at AIMA has ever responded to my requests.
However, my residency card expires in late May, and I am receiving mixed messages about whether I will be rejected at stage 4 if at that time my card is expired. My lawyer says no. In her words: “They check with each other, the decree law extends the validity until June 30, and there almost certainly will be another extension.” Almost everyone on the Portuguese-language Facebook groups agrees with this assessment. A few people here at NomadGate seem to disagree.
I’m worried sick, because it seems increasingly unlikely that AIMA will open appointments to renew residency cards for Golden Visas anytime before the next Ice Age, my nationality application will be put on hold until the end of that Ice Age, and I’m stuck here in Portugal with neither a valid visa nor hope of citizenship. That’s my fear. The current political clown show in Lisbon indicates that little is bound to change, with populist pontifications and proposals the order of the day from all sides of the political spectrum (blame the rich foreigners for all our problems, and hey–why not?–blame the poor ones too).
Thank you . This has been very helpful . One more point is that my daughter is under 18 and we need to apply for her as a dependent once we obtain our passports . Does she need to have a valid GV once she anpplies and during the passport process . Our GV expires in Feb 2025 . Arranging a 2 week stay before then will be difficult . Appreciate your thoughts .
On the other hand, actually kicking you out would take effort and coordination on someone’s part, so you’re probably good on that score.
Worry probably does you no good. It will be what it will be, and it appears for all intents and purposes to be out of your hands. Fatalism may be the way to go here. I know, easy for me to say, I’m not living your experience which is rather more precarious than mine. I hope it comes out ok for you.
In the absence of a contagem de tempo, what did your lawyer use to prove you met the 5 year requirement .? If they used other proofs then I can understand .
You better check with lawyers. You probably could submit her as a minor child of Portuguese citizen after and would not need any residence permit for her in that case. May be it is even faster than article 6.1. I unfortunately do not know all rules for children and what would be the best in that case. I would strongly recommend to get some qualified advise
Everybody says that contagem de tempo is not obligatory
They will ask AIMA directly about contagem de tempo, but it takes a lot for AIMA to reply, it is why it is helpfull to submit contagem de tempo at the begining. However if significant time passes and analisys will be after the last card mentioned in that contagem de tempo expires they will ask AIMA anyway and the first contagem de tempo will not help
You need to be a resident at stage 3 and 4. The law says people who ARE residents at least 5 years, not who WERE residents. I know a person who was not able to get the slot and renew in 2022, and even have preliminary refuse on his naturalization process despite this covid prolongation. Later he managed to renew his GV in 2023 during autorenewal, and the process resumed. Covid prolongation does not work for citizenship
There are few recent successful cases of receiving usual PR (not ARI PR) after GV. However, in order to do that even if your GV card expired you would have to cancel the ARI program in writing. It is always a risk, but couple people decided to take it and everything was ok. However, I need to mention that first they switched to PR and than submitted for citizenship. You just at the beginning of your naturalization process, it may be worth to consider. Check with your lawyer what he/she will say
I’m in a very similar situation, I applied for citizenship in January 2024 and my 3rd GV expires in January 2025 and in June 2025 I will have physically been living in Portugal for 5 years.
I share your view and also have little hope that I will be able to renew my GV. My lawyer said that we can try for the regular PR but she is doubtful that it will be granted.
I am considering changing to another type of visa like a D2 or D7 but I would have to be outside of the country at the time of application and who knows what delays could happen during that time!
Please keep sharing your experience, and I will do the same.
