Thanks. Unfortunately, I’m leaving very soon. Anyone have feedback about just getting a background check without Apostille? Useful at all?
My lawyer clearly stated I did not need a new one, but now reading some comments here…
Our lawyer told us any missing documents could be emailed after the appointment, so if they do ask for the updated and apostilled background check at the appointment, you may be able to provide it afterwards. Talk to your lawyer and find out if that might be an option for you, as a backup plan.
My husband (primary) had his appointment in early January in Lisbon. We (spouse + two kids) accompanied him in the hopes we’d be seen but were turned away. We were one of the first appointments and were cautiously optimistic, but knew it wasn’t guaranteed.
Looking forward to the rest of our appointment assignments so we can make plans more than a month or so at time.
My husband, the primary applicant, had his appointment in Cascais this morning. His appointment was scheduled for 9:30 and they were running very late due to the flooding. The trains into Cascais were flooded. They finally called him/our attorney after 11 to handle the paperwork. He did not have or need an updated FBI report. However, the biometric equipment was not working and he was told if it’s offline over an hour, it usually doesn’t come back on. They tried again an hour later and finally got it to work. There were also issues with the credit card reader which they finally got working too. He left the 9:30 appointment at 12:15.
The attorney told him we could “hopefully expect” family member appointments in the second half of the year. It wouldn’t be quite as frustrating to me if there wasn’t the possibility that the citizenship clock won’t start ticking until permits are received. That possibility will split all of our family applications with different members starting their clock potentially close to a year after the primary applicants. This is both completely unfair, regardless of whether or not they want to increase citizenship timing from 5-10 years, and incredibly inconvenient and expensive to have to make multiple trips. If you are on the same application, you should be on the same timeline.
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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.
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I got my background check before the appt and then submitted the scanned apostille and background to my attys a week after the appt. Apostille took 10-11 weeks without the expediter.
We have an email from our lawyers on the question whether family members can get biometrics done alongwith the primary applicant. Our primary applicant appointment is in May and with all the examples already in hand, family members should not plan to travel in hope…
" < The family members will only be able to schedule appointments after the main applicant receives the residence card – according to AIMA. At the moment it is not possible, at all, to schedule appointments for the family members .>"
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Similar happened to my husband, but this was in 2023 so the old system. He couldn’t make his appointment due to a work commitment that he couldn’t move. Despite multiple emails to AIMA in advance they didn’t reschedule so he was officially a no-show. After that he appeared to have fallen into a black hole. At that time people were only resolving this issue through lawsuits. Lawsuits still worked then! We were getting ready to file a suit when about 4 or 5 months after the missed appointment our baby was invited for biometrics - she’d been added to our application later. Our lawyer lobbied SEF as they were then to say as she was a minor she couldn’t travel alone, he’d have to go with her and so they may as well do his at the same time. We were lucky and about 2 weeks before her appointment he got an invite at the same time. I understand we were lucky and others had been waiting years.
Not sure how useful this will be given change in process.
Appt today Feb-10-26 @ 12:00. Lisbon 1 office…arrived at 11;45 got my D ticket….no movement on call board…short answer….apparently country wide computer system down. Have to reschedule appointment but with system down they are not sure when they are able to reschedule hope they are able to system back up and running…
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@1tmathew Ugh, that’s awful. Really sorry to hear it and hope that you get a quick reschedule.
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OMG…I’m sorry to hear that! Also, I hope they fix that quickly. My appointment is scheduled for Monday, and I’m traveling from Seattle…so I’m praying they won’t tell me I need to reschedule 
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Omg that is so awful. I am so sorry. My attorney had mentioned that that had happened once or twice but that they had just allowed people to come back the next day and fit them in. Is that a possibility at all?
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My understanding is that since the system was down in the entire country that option wasn’t available and like your attorney mentioned mine did too but that was when they typically are able to reconnect to the system and its typically just that office that is unable to connect. So will see what happens.
@1tmathew Have you heard yet, if the system is back up yet, and operational?
I also had my biometric appointment scheduled yesterday in Lisbon, and in the process got a glimpse into how things operate that I thought might be helpful to the community.
The system crashed early afternoon, and they spent several hours trying to restore it before they began rescheduling everyone. Unfortunately, I was next in line when everything crashed. I was told that it would not be possible to reschedule any time in the next two weeks, and that if I wanted to choose my own date it needed to be after July, otherwise I needed to give a range of dates that I was available and they would email me a new appointment of their choosing. That stance softened somewhat, and I left with an April appointment. After I got back to my hotel, I got a call from my lawyer saying that she was able to work something out and that if I came to AIMA when they opened they might be able to squeeze me in for only the biometric portion of the appointment. I did, and was able to get my portion taken care of. A photograph, index finger scans and a signature. Took 2 minutes.
My actual appointment though is still in April, where they will review the documents and take payment. That can thankfully happen with just my lawyer, so I won’t need to come back.
Just to summarize the key points:
- The system is functioning again, and what happened yesterday is rare but does occasionally happen.
- AIMA seems to be verifying all of the documents during the appointment, which makes this more than just about biometric collection. Yesterday’s outage split my process in half.
- Absolutely do not attempt to do this without a lawyer.
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Wow…I’m happy for you, @piquant_bugs.07 . Especially that you won’t need to go back for your April appointment. I’m also hopeful that my Monday appointment (Feb 16) will be okay. May I ask, was your appointment at the Cascais AIMA office?
Thank you so much. I’m always happy to be in Portugal, but it’s an expensive commute.
My appointment was in Lisbon, but I understand that the system outage was nationwide. If your appointment is in Cascais, bring an umbrella. That office doesn’t have a waiting room.
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I had my appointment in Lisbon last week. There was a slight delay getting into the office - they only started letting people in after 9:00, even though some had 8:30 a.m. appointments. Once inside, however, everything went smoothly.
The lawyer’s representative went in first and then called me in. The only document required was my passport. No questions were asked. I was at the desk for about five minutes and in and out of the office within an hour.
After reading many recent posts, I feel grateful that the process worked so efficiently.
I paid with an international credit card.
Now we wait for the physical card and the dependent appointments.
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apparently not as lucky as @piquant_bugs.07
Update….so I was informed by my attorney that AIMA has rescheduled my appointment for this Monday so despite having to change some flights and extending stay hopefully this appointment goes well. @nomadreality good luck with your appointment on Monday as well.
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Congratulations! I’m so glad you were able to work it out before you had already left town. Hopefully everything goes smoothly from here.
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