There is no harm, but no use either as you will have to get another Contagem de tempo once you hit the 5 year residency mark in 2026.
Interesting, why? Even if I get it now it will say I’m resident until 2027, why do I need a new one in 2026?
Because no one can predict let alone guarantee the future events, even AIMA 
Your contagem de tempo needs to certify that you have been the resident for 5 years, which it will obviously not be able to state until some day in 2026.
Okay, but someone (@seagu77?) was saying there is no need to submit Contagem de Tempo with the application, since regardless IRN will ask AIMA for it at a later step which might be a year after application (at which point anything you submitted, even though it already includes 5 years, will just be thrown away anyway).
So the only reason to get Contagem de Tempo is to check your start date to know when you can apply. And for that purpose, getting it now makes as much sense as waiting, right?
If you want it now only to test your residency start date - yes, it makes some sense. But as I understood from your previous posts you wanted to use it for your citizenship application in 2 years time, and that you cannot do.
Anyways you will need to test it again in 2026 either by yourself requesting the new Contagem from AIMA or letting IRN do it.
Yes, it is not an obligatory document. There are opinions that in case you recently refreshed your residency permit and you have enough time until the card mention in the contagem de tempo expires, then it is better to include it into application, because probably (just PROBABLY) it may speed up yr application if IRN decides to use it instead making new request to AIMA. Also there are opinions that in case yr card expires during the citizenship process and it looks like it stuck you may make new contagem de tempo after renewal and send new docs to IRN with the request to add it to your application.
Also, taking into account that criminal record is valid 3 months, birth and marriage certificates are valid 6 month, adding old contagem de tempo has no value. All docs that state some fact on the particular date has short validity in Portugal. I guess Contagem de tempo older than 6 month is better to be in the trash bin rather then application.
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I think birth certificates are valid for 1 year and marriage 6 months.
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It is quite contradicting to what you’ve recently said
I don’t see any contradiction.
The “Contagem…” document itself does not contain any ‘expiry date’ in itself.
It does not mean it will be valid forever.
In the same way as the birth certificate does not have any ‘expiry date’ printed on it, but as we all know in Portugal it is only valid for 1 year.
If it does not have any expiry date, why one would throw it to the trash bin after 6 months?
Many people here have just renewed their cards and new cards have 3 years validity until 2027. Now, as of 2024, they request a “contagem do tempo”. But they will only use the document to apply citizenship in 2026 (2 years later). It should be fine.
Does your criminal certificate have an expiry date on it? No?
So can you take your 3 year old certificate and take it to AIMA trying to prove that you did not commit any crime in the same last 3 years?
Crime record probably is not the best example because there could be crimes committed after issue date, but birth certificate is! Apparently nothing could be changed in yr fact of birth, but no, IRN does not accept old certificates.
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Just try to explain again. The document does not have an expiration date because it is just a statement of fact on the issue date. However, it does not mean that it is accepted by IRN. We submit several such documents to IRN, and it always requires them fresh. You could include it into yr application if you want, but the value of this document is 0 if not negative. The idea of including of this additional (not obligatory) document is to try to avoid request to AIMA because the reply takes a lot of time. In case you include old contagem de tempo into yr application it definitely will not work that way. And also it will may create questions: why this guy included that document which is not obligatory and 2 yr old? The new one costs 22 euro. Very very strange. Better to check twice.
P.S. There is just another consideration. If you have seen any Contagem de tempo, you will understand what I mean. It is not a certificate at all. It is a letter from AIMA, signed by one official, without seal, and I do not remember if the signature was real or facsimile. I have tried to do a notarial copy, and only the second notary did it. The first one said that there is no way to determine its authenticity and tried to call to AIMA without success, of course, because to rich AIMA is a tremendous task. Nobody actually told if there is a database where IRN could check if it is genuine. And nobody confirmed at all that IRN uses it.
You still do not understand what I wanted to say.
Here is an example:
- someone has card valid until Sept 2027.
- he requests Contagem do tempo in 2024
- in April 2025 he receives Contagem do tempo indicating that he is a legal resident in Portugal since Sept 2021 and his card has the validity until Sept 2027
Consequently, he is happy to wait until June 2026 to request a criminal record in his home country.
By Sept/Oct 2026, he has a fresh criminal record and a contagem do tempo (already obtained in 2025) and he is able to apply cittizenship with ease.
The whole point of having a contagem to tempo now is have a better preparation. For someone who has card’s validity until 2027, there is no harm of having contagem do tempo now. Have it now, lock it in the safe box!
For someone who has had multiples resident cards which add up five years of resident. Contagem do tempo is not obligatory.
However, for someone who only has 1-2 cards which total time of these cards does not add up to 5 years of resident, the contagem do tempo is obligatory. Without it, how can you submit the application?
The traditional way is yo submit all resident cards with 5 years in total. But new citizenship law, one could skip this. Many people of Manifestação de interesse have 1 card only but they have contagem do tempo indicating 5 years legal resident. Hence they are eligible to apply citizenship.
We do understand. The problem that it will have 0 effect to prove anything
Of course I have seen several contagem do tempo. I already posted long time ago here for everybody can see it. See my old post:
I have seen (and have a contagem do tempo from someone via other forum) very recent one and it only says the begining date of legal resident. It does not even show the validity of the card of the person. This contagem do tempos was issued by Aima Faro in November 2024z I will not post it here and let the debate going first.
Cards are also not required for application. You suppose that the docs are checked when they are submitted. They are not! If you apply via lawyer , the lawyer checks them just to avoid refusal in a future but if you submit via regular mail nobody checks them until you get to this stage.
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If it has zero effect, tell me how can one apply for citizenship under new citizenship’s law? Let’s say the person only has 1 card.
That person can be me😂. My application was May 2020. I had 1 card, just renewed it, and about to receive the fresh new card.