We applied for our digital nomad visa (plus dependent) several weeks ago, and have found that the embassy where we are (Japan) are not very communicative in terms of updates or timelines. We have a couple questions maybe people here can help us with given their experience:
How long does it typically take for approval? [This is the “DR” - the new digital nomad visa (when we said D8, they said that doesn’t exist - it’s now “DR”).]
Now that we’ve lodged our application, do we have to wait for the outcome in that same country? i.e. Could we go to Portugal (as tourists) and if approved, get the visa stamped in Portugal? [We are Americans living abroad and finished up in Japan…but are still here in a bit of a holding pattern. ]
Does it help one’s visa application if you’ve rented a property in Portugal at the time of application?
Hahaha, I know the person who you are dealing with. We dealt with her too. She can be pretty slow, officious, and not very informative.
I don’t know about the DR visa but it took 4 weeks for us to get the D7 and dependent visa from the point they had all of our documents. I was told that after the embassy staff approves it the head of the consular section then has to approve it. Finally, it is sent to Portugal (digital scans of docs) for a final approval. We were also told that the head of the consular section really cares about the money side of the application so that you won’t become a burden on Portugal.
The embassy/consulate you applied at is the one that will put the actual visa in your passport. We left our passports with them at the time of application to speed it up somewhat (save another trip to the Embassy). If you live in Tokyo then that might not matter. When we had our SEF appointment in Portugal to get residence status they checked for the D7 visa and entry as such in our passports. I don’t see how you can get the visa put into your passports anywhere else.
I think it’s a requirement to have a rented place when you apply. It is often recommended that you have at least a 1 year rental. We got away with a 4 month rental but it may have been due to other positive factors in our application.
@Fafhrd Sorry for not replying sooner, but your reply was really helpful. The DR is the newest version of the D7, so the requirements are a little different. But I’m hoping your experience of wait time is similar for us. No news yet, but it’s only just been 4 weeks since we think they have everything correct. Of course, the lack of communication is harder to accept, but I guess it’s good to know it’s not personal!
I know this thread has been sitting for a while, but I’m in a similar spot applying from Japan. Did you end up getting an answer on how long the DR visa actually takes? I’ve heard some folks say it’s faster than the D7, but would love to hear your real experience.
Hi Andrew,
Well, I didn’t get an answer from this group, but eventually it sorted itself out. First thing to know is, for some reason, Japan calls it DR, but everyone else calls it the D8. (So D7 was passive income; D8 is active income.)
Our timeline: We applied middle/end of June, were told it would take 4 weeks “or less” - HA! Then there were documents they wanted extra certifications for - letter of employment needed a special kind of signature, marriage certificate apostille, etc. Then, August came…and we didn’t know it, but everyone in Europe went on holiday and our application just sat there. Finally, we got a hold of someone in September…and we were approved in early/mid October.
Other notes: The entire time, they have your passport, so you can’t do other things, relax somewhere out of Japan. If you ask/insist to take your passport - I had a conference in the US during that waiting period - they pause your process until you return the passport. Seriously.
Now, this all might sound crazy and prolonged…but once we were here, I learned of other groups for support. And our wait time is NOTHING. The fact that we get to go straight to the embassy slows down some things, but also speeds up others, because the VFS agency used in the US and other places for Portugal means getting ducks in a row–>getting a VFS appt–>getting VFS ok–>getting PT embassy appt–>getting PT embassy ok with visa stamp.
This is the FB group you want to join - read through their files SUPER carefully, as well as search by topic, and you’ll have what you need, The admin are a bit intense sometimes because the same questions are often asked 100x, but it’s a crazy well-organized resource for coming to Portugal. Wish we’d known about it when we were in Japan!
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