Awaiting Pre-Approval (Stage 2)

Thank you, wish you all the best!

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Can someone shed light on what happens during the SEF appointment? I was pre-approved in Sept 2021 and have just scheduled my appointment on 2nd August. Lawyer says just bring latest criminal attestation and nothing else, lawyer will bring the rest. Do I need to prepare anything else and will there be an interview at the SEF office? Thanks

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If you are married, make sure your marriage certificate is within 6 months. Also, be sure to retain your proof of entering Portugal for the appointment - either in the form of a passport stamp or boarding passes (from a Schengen country).

Otherwise, your lawyer will probably have most of the interaction with the SEF agent - aside from the actual taking of the photograph, fingerprints and signature.

edit: to elaborate, the SEF agent will go through all of your submitted documents one-by-one

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You are most likely to walk in front of the biometrics machines after your lawyer is done with the talking and document submission. Apart from the lawyer, I was the only person inside. It took, in total, 3 mins. This was 2021.

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Thank you very much. I am married but wife hasnā€™t applied GV, do I still need marriage certificate?

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Not sure if you need the marriage certificate if the spouse is not applying. If you have a lawyer, maybe check with them? Others here may be able to commentā€¦

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the marriage certificate is the proof of your spouseā€™s (GV dependant) relation to yourself (GV main applicant).
If you donā€™t have a GV dependant applying then you donā€™t need to prove any relation.

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I still feel you will need the marriage certificate. Irrespective of your wife applied for GV or not. This is to show your own marital status. Else if you are single, you need a certificate towards that from competent authority, in case of divorce, you need a certificate too.

Nope, not needed.

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Just no :grin:

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I have not seen anything of this requirement. Did your lawyer advise you it was necessary? What sort of document or certificate would be issued to ā€œproveā€ someone is single?

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Guys, please donā€™t get yourselves confused.
The ā€˜single status certificateā€™ is required for a dependent child over the age of 18.

It is obviously not required for the main applicant!

How long are the marriage certificate and birth certificate for the children valid ?

Marriage cert - 6 months
Birth cert - 12 months

(And as a reminder, Criminal cert - 3 months)

With my own application I sent my original old marriage and birth certificates, but with a fresh apostille dates. SEF accepted them and pre-approved.
However, i doubt they would accept the same trick during the in-person biometrics submission. So I am going to have my certs re-issued by my home country authorities and apostilled again.

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Thanks. I was bit confused with it.

What a long wait but finally got preapproval today for myself and family. Interesting enough my family was approved 4 days ago and mine came today

Applied- mid-November 2021
Pre-approval - July 1st 2022

My lawyer says he can get biometrics before end of this year, but I believe he is very optimistic.

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This is so f#$%in crazyā€¦ once youā€™re born and have a birth certificate, shouldnt it be valid foreverā€¦ what csn ever change with that? i dont even know why Iā€™m spending so much money for this circus!

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Portugal has dynamic birth certificates- they also record marriages and divorces on them, so they change over time. US birth certificates are static- they donā€™t (generally) change, except by special circumstance. That is one reason they want fresh documents. They are dealing with applications from all over the world, so their requirements are based on their practices, not ours.

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That is actually interesting to know and puts some light on the why.

I JUST RECEIVED MY PREAPPROVAL TODAY!!!
Submitted Nov 15th 2021. Finally!!!

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