So I received final approval for my GV in October 2025. I was required to make a payment to the Government which I did according to lawyers instructions. To date (7 Jan) this payment for final approval - which I believe triggers residency card creation, has not been acknowledged. Thats 3 months waiting for them to ack my payment and given the proposed new rules the clock only starts ticking once I get my residency card. Lawyer sends regular emails to the agency with no response.
My original application was in November 2021, Biometrics in Febraury 2023, Final approval in October 2025. Any ideas how I get this last bit over the line?
Suing at this final hurdle seems crazy, although I don’t know how long is a reasonable time to continue to wait. I have had 4 years of patience to get here, I am very now getting frustrated.
You mean the online system does not yet show that you made the payment? Or the system does show that you made the payment, but you haven’t yet received the card?
System does not reflect the payment. I was pretty careful when doing it to follow instructions closely. Apparently there have been more issue like this which take an indeterminable time to resolve…
System often does not reflect the payment properly. My wife has received her card over two months ago, and her payment status is still showing as “pending”.
I got my approval in October as well, but it took a month for my lawyers to verify the DUC for payment before I paid. Got the card 2 weeks later. They told me that some clients were still waiting since February after paying. Apparently, before paying it is good practice to reach out to AIMA and ‘verify’ the DUC with them. Apparently, when they are issued initially they are all wrong and the payment does not register in the system.
I’m also a November 2021 applicant, and my approval was issued on 7 November 2025. My lawyers completed the payment on 10 November, and the system reflects that same date. However, I still haven’t received my residence card.
I asked my lawyers to verify whether the system shows if the card has already been produced, but they confirmed that this information isn’t displayed. From their experience, it can take up to three months from the payment date for the card to be delivered.
You may want to ask your lawyers to follow up directly with AIMA. I’m assuming your approval was handled through Funchal. Typically, the cards are printed in Lisbon, then sent to Madeira, and from there forwarded to your collection address.
Hi - any suggestions how your lawyers did that, given that AIMA never answers emails or the phone? Did they use the lawyer-AIMA complaints channel introduced last year (despite this not being a complaint, just a double-check)?
This article is behind a paywall but the gist of it is that parliament will discuss the waiting time for nationality and a potential transitional period this Jan 27th. A petition led by lawyer Priscilla Ferreira with 8,000 signatures has prompted this discussion.
Some of the points in the petition are:
Waiting time during application to be counted as residency time (the amendment to the nationality law of 2024) has not been fully implemented across Portugal, and therefore harming immigrants
A request for a transition rule for immigrants who have met all their nationality requirements for citizenship but have yet to apply.
Why was this the group they focused on for a transition rule? If an applicant meets all the qualifications, they should just apply. The people who need help are those who applied to the GV program with the belief that they had a 5 year window.
That petition has already been signed enough times, so will be taken to the Commission’s hearing on the 27th Jan apparently. Its status is not yet updated on the Assembly’s website.
Here’s the link to what she’s requesting from Parliament in her petition:
(translated to english)
STATEMENT OF REASONS REGARDING LEGAL SECURITY AND ACQUIRED RIGHTS
In the same way that there is a need to define the extent of the right based on length of residence, it is necessary to protect those who have already fulfilled the formal requirement of time but have not yet been able to proceed with the application.
In this case, the law must be amended to impose a transitional rule, as well as to ensure that any individual who is already eligible to apply for nationality by acquisition is not harmed by any future extensions of the deadline.
WORDING OF THE AMENDMENTS TO BE PROMOTED BY THIS INITIATIVE
Article 1.
Subject Matter
This law amends Law No. 37/1981, of October 3 (Nationality Law),
Article 2.
To promote the amendment of the wording of Article 15, paragraph 4, of the aforementioned law and its regulatory norm, consequently having the following text
"For the purposes of calculating the legal residence periods provided for in this law, the time elapsed since the moment the temporary residence permit was requested, by any effective means, whether on paper, electronically, through a platform or system in force, or by court order, shall also be considered, provided that it is granted.
a) The periods of residence permit applications resulting from any amendment to the article are also considered when the nature of the residence permit to be granted achieves the same purpose of making its holder legal in the territory, also considering for this purpose the cases of granting residence permits without a visa existing in the legislation in force on the date of granting, provided that the applicant has proven legal entry into the territory."
b) The holder of a residence permit whose total period of 5 years of residence in the country under any title has been fulfilled is guaranteed nationality in the form of paragraph 4, by acquired right.
Article 3.
Entry into force
This law enters into force on the day following its publication.
Based on all the factual and legal elements presented herein, the consideration of this claim is requested, as it is the fulfillment of the most honorable justice.
From the article “The waiting period for residency for citizenship application purposes has never been regulated.” It looks like that there’s still confusion in the Government whether to start residency from the date of the GV application or when the first residency permit was issued (despite the amendment of 2024). So the petition is to make it explicit that the start date is from the date of application and remove any doubts.
