WIKI: HOW-TO: Golden Visa Renewal Mega Thread (January 2025 →)

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa 🇵🇹
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This is a Portugal Golden Visa Renewal thread for the new AIMA process announced January 2025. All renewals will be presential (in-person) with AIMA, and renewal applications must be made on the AIMA portal. This WIKI will be updated by the community as new information is available.

Update April 14, 2025 There is no new news on the status of renewal appointments. A handful of people have reported getting appointments by emailing AIMA - but this is not a proven approach.

AIMA Portal Status:
The URL of the AIMA portal has not been announced.
The AIMA portal is not currently open for renewal applications (as of April 14, 2025). The launch date is not known at this time.

Agency with jurisdiction over renewals:
All GV renewals will be handled by AIMA, not IRN.

For a list of required documents, see:
Wiki: Required Documents for Portugal Golden Visa Renewal - Residencies & citizenships / Portugal Golden Visa :portugal: - Nomad Gate Community

Time Limit for Decision on Application by AIMA
Once your renewal application is filed, AIMA is required by law to provide a decision on your application within 60 days or it is tacitly granted.
(Article 82(2) of the Law). The 60 day period does not include weekends or holidays according to DL n.º 4/2015, de 07 de Janeiro at Article 87(c)) – HT: @cj807

Category of Residence permit granted on renewal
There was some discussion by AIMA that renewals must follow updated transitional regulations. ARI renewals maintaining eligible investments (non-real estate) are processed as usual. For cases where investment conditions have changed, renewals might convert into immigrant entrepreneur permits or generic residence permits. This appears to mean that ARI residence based on real estate will be transitioned to a entrepreneur permit valid for 3 years, whereas fund investments will remain as ARI permits valid for 2 years. This raises a number of questions such as how to categorize funds based on real estate and whether family members will be renewed into the same type of residence permit as primary investors from the July 2024 auto-renewals period. The precedent from these earlier auto-renewals is that fund based real estate investments will convert to entrepreneurial permits valid for 3 years. It is not clear if this interpretation will continue with in-person renewals. This information is based on preliminary interpretation and is subject to change.

Fees
The fees for renewals will remain at the higher ARI based fees of €3.090,40 for both primary applicants and dependents, rather than the entrepreneurial (D2) based fees, even in the case of entrepreneurial permits. Even though the renewals are in-person, AIMA does not intend to charge the in-person penalties for the renewals. This information is based on preliminary interpretation and is subject to change.
Official AIMA fee schedule link here: tabela-de-taxas-e-demais-encargos-a-cobrar-pelos-procedimentos-administrativos.pdf

FAQ

Q: Will automatic renewals return at some time?
A: No. Automatic renewals are not planned to return.

Q: If I cannot renew by June 30, 2025 will the government extend the decree for validity of expired cards.
A: There has been no announcement about extending the decree past June 30, 2025. For more information about extensions, see this wiki: Wiki: Validity of expired documents and permits (Portugal) - Residencies & citizenships / Portugal Golden Visa :portugal: - Nomad Gate Community

This wiki was created by @portugalwanderer. If you see an Edit button in the bottom right, you are welcome to contribute your knowledge.

Contributions by: @anonymous69 [If you make any changes to this wiki, add your username here]

Read more about wikis on Nomad Gate here.

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It seems that AIMA recently revised GV application procedures. I am wondering if there has been an update in GV renewal procedures. Specifically, will I need to fly to PT to have my biometrics taken again, or can I just apply online and get my new renewal card delivered to my PT address? Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.

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This is not the gospel truth, but I am told that AIMA recently started scheduling GV temporary permit renewal appointments. That’s the good news. The bad news may be that it implies an appointment, thus in person.

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Thank you for letting me know. I was hoping that a physical presence would not be required. My bad luck :frowning:

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My card expires on 2 feb. Any idea how we go about trying to get an appointment.

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Remember it’s extended to June 30. Airlines like emirates are even publishing on their website that they recognize Portuguese permits until then because it’s such a widespread issue.

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I have flown with an expired one before and it works. You just have to get clearance from emirates prior to arriving at the airport.
I would just like to get my next one, as I’m hoping to apply for citizenship in may.
At the moment I can’t see where I can get an appointment or how it would be done. I did my biometrics in 2019 with SEF but now there doesn’t seem to be a standard ARI path to follow

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@andyB
Hi, did you manage to book appointment for the renewal?

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No. It’s a bit depressing

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Did you try emailing AIMA with a subject line containing all of the following:

  • “ARI”
  • full name
  • date of birth
  • nationality
  • application number, which is the number that appears in the top right-hand corner of the ARI Portal
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A post was split to a new topic: Wiki GV renewal

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At the last AIMA webinar, officials did say that a new form would be launched for ARI renewals, but did not mention a specific timeline that I recollect. Can you please link to the source for the March 2025 date?

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This is what i recall from one of the meetings. I doubt they will meet that deadline anyway. If you have more up to date information, you can update the Wiki.

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Which meetings, have there been any more since the Jan 14 AIMA-lawyers webinar?

I watched the video of the webinar, listened to the Portuguese audio (with my limited understanding), read the translation, googled, but I could not find a mention of March 2025 as the renewal form launch date anywhere. If I get any positive information I will update the wiki.

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I am not sure. I updated the wiki to be more vague about the start date.

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We are still waiting our first cards but after such a horrible 2 years I am curious about next stages.

  1. Is there any link to renewal fees to check?
  2. Is it possible to apply for renewal before expiration? I mean many people needs to get a visa to enter Portugal and it is terrible to get a schengen visa to apply for renewal.
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I added a link to the fee schedule for whatever good that will do you. If you haven’t received a first card but you are starting to worry about second card?? Just buckle up. It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride.

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I have some other questions in my mind to enrich topic:

  1. When can we apply for renewal prior to expiring card?
  2. Will renewal be online at near future? Is this expected?
  3. Can lawyers apply for renewal on behalf of us?
  4. Will a new card be sent after renewal or we will continue to use the first card?
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I am looking at the ARI portal page and do not see any number in the top right-hand corner. There is a process number located close to the top of the page below e-mail address and status of the application. Is this the application number?

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I am not sure if you are aware, but the citizenship application is not with AIMA but IRN. From AIMA, it is advised that you get a “certidão de contagem de tempo” that confirms your 5 years of residency in Portugal. My lawyer has said that a copy of the 3 residency cards were sufficient, but in my case, I did not rely on that because there are gaps in the dates of my cards due the pandemic and I didn’t want to take the risk.