My husband and I had biometrics January 5th and still waiting. My lawyer reached out to them a little over a month ago. They responded to say that they are very busy, and have a long backlog.
Still no word on ours either from February biometrics. Our lawyer did mention that this immigration office is really bad the last time I checked in.
Given the very few people who did biometrics here its really hard to pinpoint the average duration to approvals for this location.
Just to update this thread and let you know that we got our final approvals from Portimao today! The email notification from SEF Portinao was sent to our lawyer yesterday, 19th October, so it’s been a 7+ month wait since biometrics.
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Got my approval on 10/19 as well surprisingly. Its as if everyone just woke up and decided to clear a few applications. Unfortunately still waiting for my spouse’s.
Our lawyer is saying that this is normal but that doesn’t seem to be true in your case?
Looking through the timeline the only difference I can see is that my spouse was not officially invited for biometrics but was still allowed to give them at the same time as my appointment. And we did have to submit some documents after the fact.
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@GVHope Hi there, just wondering what the status of your residence permits is by now, whether you have now received them? For our part we are still waiting - nothing as yet and it’s been 10 months since final approval was received.
@elle1 Just curious if you had all your DUCs issued and duly paid 10 months ago? And the status on the portal turned to ‘Pago’? But still no cards printed?
Hi @tommigun Yes DUCs were issued and fully paid. I don’t know about the ‘Pago’ status on the portal as I have never done anything via the portal as the lawyer has handled everything. I’m sure she would have mentioned if there was a problem re the ‘Pago’ status. I had a Zoom chat with her back in April about the situation and she mentioned that it was the same with several of their clients. (I can’t recall however if this was just with Portimao or with other SEF/AIMA locations as well). I meant to post a summary of my conversation with the lawyer back in April but there wasn’t really anything new or different from what’s already been expressed in various posts. Nevertheless I’ll go ahead and post my notes from our conversation below.
According to my lawyer (conversation in April 2024):
For citizenship you need 5 years ‘legal’ residence & at least the 1st card/residence permit issued
- You will need to have the actual physical GV residence permits in order to make a citizenship application. Final approval by itself will not be enough, you’ll need to have received at least the 1st card.
- They expect that 5 years will start to be counted from the date of initial application
- You need 5 years of ‘legal’ residence
- The 7/14 day stay requirements are needed only for renewal of GV residence permits (not for citizenship)
- Permits are issued for 2 years initially, then visit for 14 days (… though I did not clarify about the 7 days in each year issue)
Permanent residence application?
- When it’s time to apply for citizenship, don’t apply for permanent residence, just renew the GV
Regarding the A2 language requirement
- She mentioned that an A2 certificate would be accepted, you don’t need to take the exam. She said there were various online language schools and that we could start 6 months before we submit the citizenship application. She promised to send me a list of online language schools closer to the time.
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On this point, she said they were/will be making citizenship applications for GV clients based on 5 years from date of initial application. They will know for certain based on the outcome of those applications … or something to that effect … !!
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If it’s anything like people’s experience suing AIMA to progress their GV applications, nothing will be certain… it will be another random application of ‘the law’ based on wildly varying adjudicator opinions. Or ‘judge lotto’ as I call it.
Got it. I think it would be worth checking for the ‘Pago/Paid’ status on the portal as I had to chase SEF every step of the way on this process (i.e. after I received my final approval email I then chased SEF to issue the DUC, then to reflect my payment as Paid, then to print/send me the card).
Ok, I will raise this with the lawyer when next we catch up, but she did say they had been chasing SEF (or whatever they’re now called), especially as they have several clients in a similar situation.
You can probably detect a certain weariness in my tone … I am almost beyond caring any longer. Frankly would rather not receive the permits till much nearer the 5 year mark, then hopefully we won’t need to renew the permits nor bother with the 7/14 day, keep boarding passes malarkey.
Just glad our investment can be redeemed at any stage with no penalties or tie-ins, should we ever have to abandon the process.
But I’m still generally optimistic … not sure why!
When do you reach the 5 year mark @tommigun
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Somewhere in Q4 2026.
I have a friend who did her biometrics in Portimao. She got her final approval in about last August (roughly), and her lawyer received her card in early March. Hers was the longest delay I’ve heard of.
Still waiting, unfortunately no card yet. Spouse does not have their final approval either. Its as if they “lost” my application after payment and neither I have a card nor a final approval for my partner.
I’m exploring filing a lawsuit but given the recent AIMA strike announcement I’m worried if its even worth filing a lawsuit.
Still crickets since May 2023 biometrics…my attorney has discouraged a suit unless I can justify the urgent need for the card.
Let’s hope things start moving in the next couple of months!
Hi @tommigun I meant to mention this before but only getting round to it now. Re the DUC/‘Pago’ status with reference to our residence permits, our lawyer reminded me that I paid for our cards “by bank transfer, not over DUC where we can see ‘paid’”. I can’t remember but I think I have always made payments to SEF/AIMA by bank transfer as I never really knew what this DUC-thing meant, not having encountered it before! Anyway I have an update re our cards … next post!
Just had a quick text from our lawyer who said she’s been informed (I presume by AIMA or whoever deals with issuing the permits) that our cards should arrive (I presume she means to her office) in 15 days time! She also said “…they apologised so much…” which was great to hear as it suggests they are not intentionally trying to make our lives difficult, but likely just struggling with their bureaucracy etc.
Anyway … I will wait until I have the cards in hand before celebrating. Need to make sure the lawyers do indeed receive the cards in said 15 days and that the postal/courier service in both Portugal and the UK will indeed deliver them safely. Anyway my lawyer has never been one to over-promise, so the fact she’s sent this message suggests she is genuinely confident.
I shall post a further update if/when I have the physical cards in the palms of my hands!
We have a zoom call arranged for tomorrow … not sure for what but she requested it … so will update with anything new/interesting that might emerge.
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So assuming I receive our cards in October 2024, my SEF Portimao timeline will have been -
Biometrics - March 2023
Final approval - October 2023 - 7 months after biometrics
Permits issued/received - October 2024 (tbc) - 12 months after final approval and 19 months after biometrics.
Phew, what a long wait it’s been!
UPDATE as of 10th October 2024!!
Permits have now been received by my lawyer and are currently on their way to us via courier!! So my definitive SEF/AIMA Portimao timeline is as follows:
Biometrics - March 2023
Final approval - October 2023 - 7 months after biometrics
Issue date on my card - September 2024
Cards received - October 2024
FURTHER UPDATE!!
So in the end only my card actually arrived! It turns out that family members’ cards have not yet been printed. According to the lawyer this is normal and they are usually printed some days or weeks after the primary applicant’s card. So the wait for the remaining cards continue!
ANOTHER UPDATE - 2 Dec 2024
Received message today from our lawyer saying that she has now received the residence permits for all family members!
UPDATE - 12 Dec 2024
Received the cards for all family members in hand today!
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Does anyone know if all processes submitted at SEF Faro have been transferred early this year to SEF Portimão, resulting in this increased delay?