My educated guess is that the next 10-day booking window for biometrics will open in mid- to late March 2023.
Thank you. I won’t hold you to that though!!
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You poor thing. What a stressful experience. I suppose I’m relatively lucky in that it’s a short flight from the UK.
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Unfortunately, I don’t. I doubt that anyone really does, including the lawyers who help with GV applications. If the past is any indication, it appears that ever three months a block of appointments becomes available, but again, please don’t stake too much credibility on this prediction.
Best of luck, and keep your spirits up. Eventually, it will work out…
my understanding is that a NIF (the number) is required for each applicant at the time of application filing. (are you doing a GV or some other visa?) Then my experience at biometrics is your attorney needs some report fom the NIF website showing you have no tax balance owed.
That’s correct - you should have to sign a release (prior) so the lawyer can get details about any debts owing to Portugal.
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We have our appointment coming up. Most of the documents that are required seem to be sorted.
One document we asked about was the proof of tax residence. We live in SG and the residence card has the tax ID number. At the time of application, I had submitted an apostilled copy of this card.
For the biometrics, my lawyer has said they will be able to use the apostilled copy submitted in Nov 21 at the time of our application. I am seeing some posts that say the apostilled document is valid for only one year (mine is now past the one year period). Some others have posted that a copy certified by a Portuguese lawyer is good enough.
Anyone with any experience on this at the time of biometrics? Slightly urgently as I am flying out monday night. So, if required, I can drop everything else and get this document apostilled tomorrow 
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@raivikas is from Singapore and posted above regarding his biometrics appointment of a few days ago, so he might have some relevant information.
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Hi there. Was wondering whether your status is still “TRANSFERIDO SIISEF” - like mine currently is, and has been for months - or where there’s been any progress?
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Thanks. I am doing a GV application.
Hi, Well, shortly thereafter, the lawyer told us that the authorities are ready to issue the card and we need to make the payments. This came through for the main applicant plus another. They requested additional paperwork for the third applicant.
Well, just made it back to the US after a crazy 24 hours (!!) in Porto (plus ~2 hrs in the Lisbon airport). We had the biometric appts for my spouse and 2 kids booked for 9, 10, and 12 this morning. The SEF office in Porto is an absolute zoo - it shares space with a lot of other government offices. Our lawyer met us there, and was able to get all three of them out by 10 am - her chat with SEF lasted about 45 minutes, and the biometrics about 10 minutes.
She requested them to take my appointment at the same time (both in advance and in person), but no luck. So I’m flying back to Portugal in 1 week for my appointment in Lisbon. Wheee.
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Just completed my biometrics in Lisbon. Entire process took 40 mins. I had met the lawyers a day earlier and signed and checked all the documents, so it was smooth sailing from there. SEF officer was very nice and friendly. I paid for the card to be collected by my Lawyers. Got a receipt for this along with an acknowledgement for the submission of my documents. Now the wait begins for the card. As per my Lawyers it will take 7 to 8 months. Keeping fingers crossed until then. I would advise all applicants to go through the checklist in this forum to make sure you have all the documents you need. Good luck to all!
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Congrats! quick question, have you asked your lawyer (or did the issue ever came up) why SEF would accept a payment for the card at this stage? before the final approval.
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Perhaps he or she is paying the attorney who is holding the funds? I asked my attorney about paying the funds to my law firm for that portion during my visit in September with the Euro where it was and she thought I was crazy since it would take up to a year to get the request for payment. Instead I am keeping the money in Euros in Wise for when I eventually pay.
Thanks. I agree, most likely that is the case here. Someone else on the forum mentioned paying for the card after the biometrics. I was just curious…
Its a payment to collect the card through my lawyer Euro 25.31
It’s the card issuance fee, payable to SEF, not to the lawyer.
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Don’t know if the reply is too late. Just take your originals with you. In my case they just asked me to show tthe original and submit a copy. The only additional apostilled copy I took wasan updated Criminal clearance certificate.
But again, i dont think there is a set procedure. Just follow the instruction of your lawyer.