Wow, lucky you! I did my biometrics in Lisbon April 28, 2022 and Iām still waiting for a card.
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My wife and I did biometrics in Lisbon in early February 2022 but still no news for our approval.
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Hi, I shared some time ago that we also had our biometrics in Lisbon in February 2022, and got advised here on this forum to check with our lawyers mentioning the law and the 90-day deadline that SEF should (theoretically) comply with. So here is an update - our lawyer made a request to SEF on our status update and last night we got a response from SEF: āEm resposta ao solicitado, cumpre informar que os pedidos abaixo identificados aguardam decisĆ£o superior.ā I understand that this means the final approval stage. I donāt know whether this is a coincidence or not (and whether our lawyers referred to the deadlines in their request), and I also donāt know how long this last stage is going to take. But anyway, at least some development after a year-long wait after the biometrics (and 13 months before that to get to the biometrics).
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Not sure if this helps anyoneā¦ I went through this subforum for users who had their bios in Lisbon (where mine will be shortly), and noting whether they were approved or were still waiting. Hereās the table I came up with - green is those with approvals, and the number of months (approx) it took.
The orange lines are users who reported theyāre still waiting, and roughly how long theyād been waiting when they last posted.
So it looks like processing times were about 5-6 months for those with 2021 bios, and rose to about 9-11 months for the Jan 2022 cohort. It looks like Lisbon is currently approving those who had bios around April 2022. On this basis Iām estimating 10 months to card issuance.
(Worth saying there might be a slight bias in that people are more likely to post here if theyāre still waiting.)
Iām happy to keep this updated if people want to keep an eye on where they are āin the queueā.
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Amazing, thank you for the detailed analysis 
I had my biometrics in Lisbon on 31st January 2023, it was quick and easy. The entire process with my Lawyers time took 45 mins.
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@cj807 
Let me add mine: bio in Lisbon in July 2022, no final approval yet. Met my lawyer last week and was told SEF currently final-approving (not card issuing) those bio in May 2022.
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I heard the same thing from my lawyers as well
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Hi, I just want to confirm that my wife and I still have not received any news from SEF. We did our biometrics in Lisbon in early February, 2022 and also asked my lawyer to urge SEF for a reply a week ago. But still no news at all. I can see from the table that we are among the longest waiting times of all, i.e. 12+ months.
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Hereās our timeline in case it helps. Iāll also add it to the Google Form data:
I was the main GV applicant. My application was submitted in March 2021, pre-approved in May 2021, biometrics at Lisbon SEF in September 2021 (I was a lucky one who got a cancelled appt while they were still doing that as I had to be in Europe for a different purpose), approved and payment requested November 2021, and card received 2 weeks after that.
My husband and two teenage daughters applied with me. They submitted their applications once my pre-approval came in in May 2021, pre-approved in June 2021, biometrics at Lisbon SEF in February 2022.
Then my two daughters were approved and payment requested November 2022, and cards received 2 weeks after that, but it took until January 2023 for my husband to be approved and payment requested (no idea why he was so much longer than the daughters), and we just received the card (also about 2 weeks after payment made).
So it can easily take 8 to 11 months for Lisbon SEF AFTER the biometrics appointment! FYI
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Lovely! Very informative report. But like with the 2 others who applied last April 2022, my partnerās wait time so far has been 9+ months, not 10+, at this time. Will post an update again within the month. Hopefully itās going to be good news.
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Hi Olga,
This seems to be SEFās generic reply to any request regarding the process status. Iāve received it multiple times when e-mailing them directly. Itās either this or āyour process is to be analysed in chronological orderā.
My wife and I are still waiting for the final approvalā¦
Good luck!
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Thanks so much for the response. Can you please tell how much time passed since you last received such a response - I am trying to figure out for how long the case can await the āsuperior decisionā. I do understand that it is a generic answer, but I just thought (perhaps wrongly) that it is a positive development nonetheless. Because in the past we indeed also got a response regarding the chronological order - which as we know is not really observed. When our lawyer shared this last response, she said that it means that the case was already approved by the respective inspector assigned to it, and it has now been submitted to the higher authority for the final approval. What do you think?
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I wish there was a logic and a way to forecast anything with SEFā¦but there isnāt.
Last time I heard from them was on Jan 9th when they replied about the āchronological orderā.
December 12th they wrote about superior decision. And multiple times before I got either of the answers.
Sad to say, but your lawyer is wrong 
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Maybe this will not work, and you are already fed-up.
See the post here: Write a letter to SEF!. And advice about: physical paper letters, not e-mails.
My take was that an email would sit amongst the thousands, but a physical letter would not, and might get an outcome, especially if not worded as a complaint, despite your sentiments. Worth a try?
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Ok, this is good to know, thank you. Sorry to hear your story - well, we all are in similar situations. I guess Iāll try talking again with the lawyer, since I did mention that I was thinking about going to court and to that she replied about this recent development (which no longer seems like any development).
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I saw that post, thank you for reminding about it. Iāve not yet made my mind about itā¦ need to think a bit more.
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I would also recommend sending a paper copy letter to your MP in Portugal as well your local administration representative in Portugal.
That is depending on your level of desperation of courseā¦
It worked for me in the past in another country, but admittedly I have not tried this in Portugal yet.
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The number of GV approvals in Jan 2023 were significantly lower than Nov and Dec of last year. One would have hoped for continued high number of approvals.
(We are family of 4 with biometrics in October 2022)
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Hi
What is the fee for the resident card?
Regards
Sanjay
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Let me add mine to the tally.
Investment:July 2021
Pre-Approval: September 2021
Biometrics: August 2022 (first offered for June, declined, and taken up in Guarda, later in the summer)
We did lose a month in re-doing CNCCs that had expired back in Hong Kong, where they take a long time to be issued. If there any HK folks on this thread, please PM me, there is a very active Whatās App group up and runnning for the HK diaspora that have moved or are moving to Lisbon
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