High-quality analysis, thank you
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Iām not quite sure I follow your timeline. It looks like you have a short delay between the opening of biometrics and the biometrics appointment (āShort Delay 2: usually a few weeksā). That certainly doesnāt follow my experience nor those of some of the others here, where the lack of appointments created delays of many months.
My own experience was that the time between paying the analysis fee and receiving " ARI - NotificaĆ§Ć£o de AceitaĆ§Ć£oā was six weeks, but the biometrics appointment was very difficult to schedule and created the first long delay. The second long delay for us was as you have it, after the biometrics.
For me, either step 1 or step 2 would result in a very significant improvement, so Iād be happy either way. But I still think step 2 makes more sense from the SEF/AIMA perspective, because it deals with the case where someone has uploaded a set of documents that donāt make the first cut at all. On the 88.2/89 side that could be a packet without a valid work contract, for example, and on the ARI side a packet without valid proof that the funds qualified. Both are fixable, but why would you give priority to someone who hadnāt met the bar?
Either way, I think this is a solid improvement and Iām happy it appears to apply to ARI investors. I guess we shall have to wait to see just how generous the regulations end up being.
Previously, it was a somewhat random delay based mostly on how attentive you/your lawyer were to checking biometrics appointment slots.
Nowadays, it is very regular that they open appointments every few months and there are enough for everyone, so it is a much shorter delay. I was one of the first in the new style, and it was about a two or three month wait between pre approval and biometrics
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You left out the part where you are resident. For the Brazilians, thatās step 0. It makes sense to count them from your step 1; they canāt do step 1 until step 0.
For ARI, for many, AIMA can only verify from Step 4. Put another way, you might be legal from Step 1 but not resident until Step 4 or 6.
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@skippy.fluff : I think your biometrics happened under the old system, as garrett mentioned. If you look at Main view ā Crowdsourced Golden Visa Timeline Database by Nomad Gate the trend in the last couple of years has been for long delays between application to pre-approval, and short delays between preapproval, biometric opening, biometric appointments.
I donāt know of a similar database for 88.2, but here are a couple of typical data points:
Is the DUC statement the first phase of application or there is one thing before that ?
Iām a little hazy on the details since my application was done by my lawyer years ago, but IIRC: For the ARI application, prior to Step 1 one needs to gather all the documents needed for an ARI application: NIF, proof of investment, criminal record, etc etc. What I mentioned above as Step 1 has the following sub-steps: first, register on the ARI portal, get a mail titled " ConfirmaĆ§Ć£o de Registo de candidato a AutorizaĆ§Ć£o de ResidĆŖncia de Investimento (ARI)" with the password. Second, login and upload scans of documentation, submit. Third, click the ā¬ button to generate a DUC for payment of the fees for analysis, and fourth, pay it. IIRC there is no manual inspection needed by SEF at this stage; everything here is enforced by the business logic coded in the portal. I know of rare instances of people getting stuck in sub-step 2 where it wouldnāt let them submit docs and get to the payment part, which did require manual intervention from SEF. Otherwise the whole Step 1 was (is?) a matter of days.
There is another DUC at the āFinal approvalā stage where you pay the bulk of the ARI fees due to SEF.
Hi @Oaldaoud - this is not yet confirmed for GVs, but is typical of the boosterism of the IMI industry:
From now on, this residency period will be counted from the date of submission of the residency application, regardless of the moment when such residency is effectively approved.
Please read the 20-ish most recent posts above for the real deal, not the hype.
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Obviously we donāt know how AIMA will interpret the new law, but do we think that the press universally interpreting it to mean that the clock begins at application bolsters the argument? In other words, if the application date interpretation is tested in the courts, it seems as though a lot of supporting evidence is piling up.
For GVs, I would not say thatās a āuniversal interpretation.ā Nor do the courts care much what the press thinks.
As for this 5-year thing in āthe press,ā we have:
- GV industry bods who only highlight possible good news - this forum is your sanity check against their spin
- GV industry bods who present a more balanced, āWeāll know when the regulations come outā view (e.g. here or here)
- The actual press that is not in the GV promotion business, which far as I can tell has not published anything on how this might play out for GVāers (because this law was not formed with us in mind)
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Interesting article about that came out yesterday:
Although Brazilians are by far the largest immigrant population (around 400 thousand), Indians (58 thousand) and Nepalese (40 thousand) are already more present than residents from former Portuguese colonies in Africa, such as Cape Verde or Angola.
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Organic Law 1/2024 of 5th March, amending the Nationality Law, has been formally published in the Diario after promulgation, and will enter force on 1st April.
https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/lei-organica/1-2024-854130977
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Niceeee. But it doesnāt indicate how GV would be handled ? Probably we still need to wait for the detailed guidance from AIMAā¦
My lawyer said this:
"I confirm that the amendment still needs to be regulated (this is the normal Portuguese process), before it comes into force. The regulation of the amendment will contain the details about when the clock begins ticking towards citizenship. There is no set time for the regulation to occur; it can take a few weeks or months, perhaps longer or shorter, this part is not defined. "
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OK, but there literally is a set time for the regulation to occur; itās in Article 7:
āO Governo procede Ć s necessĆ”rias alteraƧƵes do Regulamento da Nacionalidade Portuguesa, aprovado pelo Decreto-Lei n.Āŗ 237-A/2006, de 14 de dezembro, no prazo de 90 dias a contar da publicaĆ§Ć£o da presente lei.ā
āThe Government shall make the necessary amendments to the Portuguese Nationality Regulation, approved by Decree-Law no. 237-A/2006, of December 14, within 90 days of the publication of this law.ā
Whether or not the new Regulations clarify the question remains to be seenā¦
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Thank you Chris. I hope they approve it much earlier than 90 days and we can finally get some clear answers on this topic.
I have been one of the earliest applicants still waiting for the residency cards for my family. Applied in Jan 2020.
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Thereās also a set time for processing ARI applications right?
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New Law Changes Nationality Application Rules
Organic Law 1/2024, which introduces the tenth amedmend to the Portuguese Nationality Law (Law 37/81, of 3 October) was published last tuesday, 5 March 2024, in the Official Gazette.
As a result of this amendment, the rule for counting legal residence periods for the purpose of applying for Portuguese nationality will change, coming into force on 1 April 2024. Accordingly, the time elapsed since the submission of the temporary residence permit application will be considered for the purposes of applying for citizenship, provided that the residence permit is granted.
This means that the five-year period applicable to Golden Visa holders wishing to apply for Portuguese nationality by naturalisation will start to run from the date of submission of their residence permit applications, provided that they are approved by the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AgĆŖncia para a IntegraĆ§Ć£o, MigraƧƵes e Asilo - AIMA). It is therefore no longer necessary to wait for the residence permit to be issued before counting begins.
The publication of the new law also means that the Portuguese Nationality Regulation must be amended accordingly and, pursuant to Article 7 of the new law, this amendment must occur within 90 days of its entry into force.
The publication of the new law takes place in the context of the various measures implemented by the Portuguese government aimed at mitigating the various delays that have occurred in the processing of the golden visa applications that have been submitted in recent years.
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Yes indeed