Here’s my biometrics experience yesterday - we are ALMOST one step closer! We got to our 10:30 appointment at 10:10 and the SEF security guy took our passports, did something with them, and returned them. We waited for our lawyer and visited with a Chinese family whose appointment was right before ours. Thy were very nice and their friend spoke excellent English - she is also Chinese but lives in Lisbon. She said it was an easy 30-minute in-and-out exercise for the family.
Our local lawyer arrived and asked if we had any paperwork for him - which struck us as odd, since we met with the firm in Lisbon on September 26. We confirmed that he actually had everything, and then we went in and waited. He went upstairs and discussed stuff with the SEF official and after a while called us up for the biometrics. We did our photo and fingerprints without any issue except I had to retake my photo because you’re not supposed to smile.
Then the SEF lady checked our passports to see the entry stamp date. These days, US citizens can enter electronically (sort of like Global Entry) but they still stamp your passport after that. My stamp was so faint as to be invisible, and my wife’s almost so. HINT NUMBER 1 - BE SURE TO ASK THE IMMIGRATION GUY TO STAMP YOUR PASSPORT REALLY HARD.
Apparently, because it was so hard to see the stamp, she wanted copies of our boarding passes from our arrival. We didn’t have those, and the e-ticket in my Apple wallet did not have a date on it. HINT NUMBER 2 – BE SURE TO PRINT YOUR BOARDING PASSES AND KEEP THEM HANDY. Ultimately, the SEF lady seemed to agree that a copy of our airline itinerary would be OK, so I emailed that to the lawyer right then and there, but it wasn’t a pdf. She wanted a pdf and we couldn’t accommodate that at that moment, so that became item 1 we have to provide within 10 days. Then she kept asking about what hotels we stayed in during our trip, but didn’t really want any documentation about that. ??
THEN she wanted my Portuguese social security documentation - which I do not have. This was completely out of left field - this was never in any checklist or discussion with our Lisbon-based lawyers. Our local lawyer explained that “everyone” has to have a social security number (which is different from your NIF (tax ID)), and everyone must provide a declaration that they are not indebted to the social security service for anything. I kept saying, “nobody’s ever said anything about this to us” but they both insisted that this is just “standard”.
So my lawyers now have a letter that tells me to provide my airline ticket (hopefully itinerary will suffice) and Portuguese social security info within 10 days. I emailed the Lisbon office and told them about this, and they said, “yeah, sometimes that happens”. However, they also said this is not a requirement, and they will provide a declaration that I don’t have a Portuguese SS number, don’t need one (since I am not a physical resident), and don’t owe Portugal any money. I’m a little frustrated by the fact that this wasn’t addressed up front since I’ve been in regular contact with the law firm for months to be sure we had all our ducks in a row.
I’ve seen a lot of info on this site about these appointments, and today’s experience confirms what I’ve read - it all depends on the person you’re dealing with. I’m betting the Chinese family had a different person and it went like clockwork.
Good luck to everyone!