I had my biometrics this afternoon in Lisbon. Appointment was at 1:30 and we arrived at 1 and got a number. Sat on very hard, cold metal benches until about 4. Later found out that a three hour wait was unusual and due to problems with their system being down due to the unusual storms. That was really the worst of it, after that everything was really smooth. I had done at my attorneys request new FBI background checks with apostille as soon as we got the appointment last November, so I assume that was required. She also had asked me to send proof ahead of time that my health insurance was still in effect so I had done that. I of course needed my passport, which I had with the stamp (we had gone through electronic lane but then there was a person there offering stamps anyway) but the stamp was pretty faint so they used the boarding pass instead.
There was an item related to a financial document that my attorney has had in her possession since the beginning that needs to be updated still. My attorney said it’s no problem to update that even after today, which she is going to do.
The payment was a breeze, tapped with my iPhone and Apple Pay (used my Apple Card since it offers 2% cash back) and the payment was approved in like 5 seconds.
As I reported to friends and family “the process was incredibly smooth and painless, which is not usually something you say when referring to anything in Portugal.”
FWIW, my attorney is adamant that we are going to be grandfathered in to both the 5 years and the clock from date of application which for us was March 2023 (so we would apply for citizenship before our first renewal). She feels very strongly that the law is absolutely on the side of preserving legal expectations, and that with the likely (positive) outcome of Sunday’s election electing the socialist candidate, there will not be a draconian law with no grandfathering coming out of parliament. Of course, I am skeptical as we all should be but there is still some ray of hope. She was told the card would come in about 5 months to her office (I am going to add another 3 months for Portugal AIMA time), and she confirmed what others have said that AIMA is saying my spouse and kids will be called toward end of the year. She was a little skeptical that it will happen as they say, so probably add 6 months to that then. She did say that we are going to need ALL new documents for them birth certificate, marriage certificate, w/apostille, school letter, and new FBI check for my spouse (the 5th one!!)
I will say after four incredibly frustrating years with nothing but delay, delay, delay today was incredibly easy. I spent all week here in Portugal expecting something to be delayed, go wrong with today but it didn’t and I am still a bit in shock. Portugal didn’t disappoint though. We spent three days going in to Novobanco to try and unfreeze our account because of a KYC hold, which I know there is another thread about so I won’t go into detail on that but going in person three days in a row sorted it all and the bank employees were really just as frustrated as we were. It too got resolved, and with the whole bank being bilingual it really was just a hassle, not infuriating agony.