Awaiting Biometrics (Stage 3)

Ugh. More SEF issues.

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Anyone here who got their pre-approval of their GV this year and already got their appointment for biometrics? We got our pre-approval in May of this year. Wondering if it is true that we might have to wait for a year to get our biometrics appointment. Such a long wait after we have already invested so much for our real property purchase. Our lawyer is EDGE.

Just for stats: pre-approved in April, no appointment set till now.

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Seems the longer wait is true! Hope SEF will do something about this. It’s not fair making applicants spend a lot and make them wait for God knows how many months of uncertainty.

Pre-approved in December. Still waiting for an appointment slot.

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There are also more discussions here:

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merge threads?

OMG! That’s been 7 months ago!

I am curious if anyone can share with the group the logistics of your SEF website access - if you have your own account.

I have messaged people that have their own personal login and can see their account details. I asked my lawyer for this and my lawyer says they cannot provide me with an account because they have only one account/password for all clients and thus I would be able to see other clients’ information. I have to think that its possible for me to have my own account separate from my lawyer and both of us can interact with the account, but maybe the SEF website isnt that sophisticated. Can anyone elaborate on this and provide any screenshots, etc that might help make the case to the lawyers. I think other people here are in the same situation as I am.

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+1 in curiosity.

I have been asking the exact same question and getting the same answer from my lawyers for months (I wonder if we have the same firm LOL). It’s particularly tough to not have access as I am a tech guy – something I never thought would be an “issue” early on.

Also on the ARI website it seems to imply you can’t just “change login” easily like we are used to:

" If you wish to change the accreditation data (e-mail and password) to access the ARI application, you should:

  1. Book, in the SEF Contact Centre [808 202 653 (landline network) or 808 962 690 (mobile network)], the appointment to any SEF bureau to Change Accreditation data to access the ARI Portal.

  2. In the scheduled data you must hold the following information: Identification card and, in case of a legal representative, a certified power of attorney under the legal terms."

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Have you tried to register yourself on the SEF website?

https://ari.sef.pt/account/DefaultEN.aspx

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Two more tidbits for those of you who seek to reduce your stress by lowering the bar / expectations :cry:

  1. My lawyers finally said they are skeptical to schedule anything before end of 2021
 (personally I have assumed that past 2-3 months).

  2. They had to recently cancel a client’s appointments (with multiple slots) – hoping they could reallocate them to other clients like me immediately; however, this time all the slots were just gone and nothing were made available by SEF website again


No, that is what I was hoping to understand by my post, how such act would impact my application and relationship with attorneys association with my account.

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I think I’m going to choose to just be happy if I get a pre-approval in 2021.

It is difficult however to limbo my brain down below that low of a bar, though. :frowning:

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Pre-Approval: you probably will.

Bar: many of us here are “a year ahead” of you, so you will prob. eventually get used to it LOL.

@anon16151502, I have personal access to my application on the SEF website. I created my account on SEF’s ARI site and filled in the application with assistance from my lawyers. This all came about through serendipity and an innocent misunderstanding; they wanted me to create an account on the SEF web site and it seems that I exceeded expectations. I was just following the prompts on the web site. This wasn’t their preferred process, but they were good sports about it.

Replying to @tedbean’s observations, I spotted a delicious block of 4 ARI biometrics appointments available for June 21st. I could have flown there in time but I had to pass because of end-of-half pressure at work. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth: They were gone in the blink of an eye. That was the first and last time I spotted openings on the mainland.

Something abruptly changed after July 6th. That’s the last time I spotted any last-minute opening in any office. It may be that a technologically sophisticated participant has automated the process of grabbing open appointments with very high frequency, or else SEF is no longer re-releasing last minute cancellations.

I booked a flight to Portugal in August with hopes of snagging a last-minute appointment, but it’s looking like a lost cause for now. I have secondary goals for the trip too–opening a retail bank account and shopping for property–so it won’t be a total loss. I’m also flying there for several weeks each in September, October-November, and December; fingers crossed! Also this will renew my platinum status for next year, when I plan to move everything I care about via checked baggage–three 70lb suitcases at a time. Of course the car will travel separately, on a boat.

Nevada,
To be clear, are you saying that both you and your lawyer have simultaneous access to your application and scheduling using different accounts? I am trying to determine if I can create an account and link up my application somehow to my personal account while also not undermining my lawyers access to the account.

Yes, in recent news articles the government officials have said that they are reworking the scheduling system and there are no openings at least until November 1.

Also, your lawyers are telling you the truth about the logins. By creating my own login and submitting my own application, I precluded my lawyers from being able to access my application directly, though my laywer’s email address (constrained to a blind controlled vocabulary of accredited ARI lawyer email addresses, presumably in 1:1 correspondence to ARI lawyer logins) is listed in the application. It is almost certainly the case that all of the ARI applications handled by your lawyer(s) are accessed using a single login credential, and that there’s no way to give you access for just your account. You may be able to split your application off into your own personal login if you want to make a fuss with SEF
your lawyers might find this to be a nuisance.

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No, I have access and they do not.

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