I’m in the process of applying for the ARI (Golden Visa) under the household category for daughter and wife. One of the required documents is the Termo de responsabilidade devidamente assinado pelo Investidor / Statement of responsibility duly signed by the investor."
Does anyone have a sample or template for the “Statement of Responsibility” document? Any guidance or advice on how to draft it and on the appropriate document for proving cohabitation would be much appreciated.
Additionally, in the family application for my wife, I have uploaded an apostilled International Marriage Certificate – Form B for the “Certidão de Nascimento” requirement.
For the other mandatory document, “Documentos comprovativos da situação de União de Facto/cohabitation duly certified,” I’m unsure what to provide. Would a livret de famille / family record book be suitable? Alternatively, does the system accept the application without uploading this document?
I assume you are applying without a lawyer? Good luck!
But I would still recommend you hire one for the remainder of the process, you may get a discounted price if you have made it to the application phase all by yourself.
Certidão de Nascimento means Birth certificate, it is required for your children to prove their relation to you, but is not required for your spouse unless you also apply for your parents-in-law.
So you should upload your marriage certificate under Certidão de Casamento.
Proof of cohabitation is only required if you are not legally married and therefore unable to upload your marriage certificate for your partner.
If I remember right, the system shows the mandatory documents marked with asterisk, so it would technically accept the bare minimum if you made uploads on those lines.
But I recommend uploading all documents applicable to your case, not only ‘mandatory’ lines.
And I recommend not to hire a lawyer unit you clearly need one. You’ll save a lot of money and confusion. In fact, there are many advantages of applying without a lawyer at least initially for yourself and your dependants.
Tommigun in my experience often provides a suboptimal advice based on his own experience. It’s still appreciated but shouldn’t be treated like a gospel.
I also recommend uploading required documents as soon as possible, to save time, and take care of the remaining optional documents at any point of time over the next ~365 days.
Thank you all for the helpful responses! I didn’t face any difficulties during my own application—I uploaded all the documents with the required apostilles from my country. Once my application is approved, I’m planning to share a detailed guide here to help others.
As for criminal records, I obtained them from both Portugal and my home country.
However, in my spouse and child’s application, I came across the “Termo de responsabilidade devidamente assinado pelo Investidor / Statement of responsibility duly signed by the investor.” document. I had already found the Modelo-4 document before like tommigun’s reply but wanted to confirm, just to be sure for notarization. This was especially because someone mentioned, “This document has no legal value; it’s only a declaration for residence in Turkey.”
Regarding the “Documentos comprovativos da situação de União de Facto/cohabitation duly certified” document, although it’s mandatory, I’m considering either leaving it blank or re-uploading the “Certidão de Nascimento” instead.
Hey Levent, great job, but just a few tweaks if I may:
you do not need to obtain/submit any criminal records from Portugal unless you have already been residing in Portugal for more than one year (which I doubt you have)
I don’t think any notarization is required for Termo de responsabilidade. Besides, I don’t think AIMA cares about this document at all prior to your biometric appointment. E.g. I went to some great length (just like you now) in finding this document online (the older SEF version), having it signed by a PT lawyer (recognition of signature), only to then see it ignored, and having to sign another copy at the appointment stage.
If the portal now lists the ‘proof of cohabitation’ as mandatory, just upload your Marriage Certificate (NOT your “Certidão de Nascimento”, which is a birth certificate)
I stand corrected, technically it does require notarization by a Portuguese notary as stated by AIMA under this link, unless it is signed in front of the AIMA agent during the appointment (which is all that matters in reality):
Finally we agree on something with tommigun! yes just submit the required documents without the apostille first(except the criminal records certificate). Bring the actual documents needed to the appointment.
It’s extremely difficult to get a notarized version of the Portuguese document abroad, even if you have an embassy around you, so don’t bother until you are in Portugal in the AIMA office
