(Ex) Banker here…
Decline the conversion lets you select which bank you want to do the the Fx conversion from EUR to USD. This can be either the Portugese bank which AIMA is using (i.e. installed the POS terminal at AIMA) or it could be your card issuing bank in US.
When you ‘decline the conversion’ the Portugese bank debits your card issuing bank in EUR and your bank converts the EUR to USD for you to pay. I decline conversion as a rule, on the basis that your relationship bank would normally apply a better (for you) Fx rate, than a Portugese bank for whom you have no relationship value.
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Applied August 2023. My (primary applicant) biometric appointment is today (27 February 2026) in Lisboa. No appointment for family members yet.
FYI, only 6179.40 EUR charged by AIMA, at an exchange rate on 2/24 of 1.1838. I didn’t see any additional charges.
Regarding your other details:
- My lawyer did NOT ask for an updated background check, just the original. Note that I applied in Sept 2025.
- Since I flew in through Amsterdam, I had to keep my paper boarding pass from AMS to LIS also.
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Any news about family and dependents biometric appointments?
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I received a reality check from my lawyers. I did my biometrics in October 2025. AIMA contacted them to say they are backlogged and processing Q1 2024 biometrics. Just when I was starting to believe I may receive my card by the end of the year- AIMA finds a way to keep me humble.
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The government doesn’t want you to have a card and isn’t moving quickly to issue them. Coincidentally, the government is debating a law that would make your residency counting start from the date you receive a card. I hope this clears things up.
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Dependent spouse came to biometrics appointment; no opportunity there.
I’m not sure how literally to take that. Looking at the NG timeline database, I can see a number of people who have received their cards with biometrics appointments as late as June 2025.
It seems like AIMA cannot be trusted to give a consistent account of what it is doing - surprise, surprise 
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I think biometrics doesn’t tell the whole story. Under the old scheme, biometrics happened, and then weeks, months, or often years later, the applicant paid the visa fee (DUC), and the application moved into the final stage of issuing a card. Under the new plan, biometrics and fee happen at once. So I think it’s more useful to look at the gap between payment and card issuance than to look at the gap between biometrics and card issuance.
Oh good point. When was the new scheme rolled out?
I could be misremembering, but I believe anyone who applied before Dec 31, 2024 is on the old plan, as of Jan 1, 2025, applicants went on the new plan. But I yield to anyone who has better information!
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There were some fits and starts with the “New AIMA process” in Jan. '25 (some people reported having to pay the old way via DUC, even in January). But the “New process” did work for a few weeks, with some people getting cards within 6-12 weeks of early 2025 Bios.
Then like everything at AIMA, the process fell apart by about… March 2025? And of course the Government was looking to make a show of ‘irregular’ deportations in time for the election, so AIMA staff were pulled off to rustle-up some irregulars.
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I applied way before 31 December 2024 and paid at my biometrics appointment last year.
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