Yikes! That is a scary story about the dangers of POAs. And so much flipping in the course of 4 months seems dodgy, even in a hot market. I hope your PI cracks the case for you.
You might want to double-check exactly what sort of ARI you’re on now, having paid that 3.090,40 € x 2. If other RE investors were switched to a D2 because the RE option is extinct, I’m not sure how AIMA did this. And you don’t want complications 2-3 years down the road IF you need to renew again, and IF they take issue with your June '25 renewal.
Wow. Just wow. That sucks ass. I am sorry to hear such a tale. So hard to know who you can and can’t trust. Worse when you’re not even in the same country.
Just to close the loop on the D2 visa, this is what my attorney said:
Unfortunately, each local office of AIMA applies its own internal rules, and in Setúbal, they considered that the applicable fee was the one for the Golden Visa.
I did in fact try to discuss the matter with the officer at the time, as she believed that the Golden Visa fee was the correct one to apply, but given the specific circumstances of your case, I decided not to insist at that moment and allowed the matter to proceed as it was.
We have already dealt with similar cases where clients were required to pay the Golden Visa fee, and we later submitted refund requests arguing that the amount had been charged incorrectly.
We can do it if you want, explaining them that the correct fee should have been the one corresponding to the Residence Permit for Entrepreneurial Activity, and not the Residence Permit for Investment Activity (Golden Visa), since the investment model in question had already been revoked at the time, arguing that the applicable legal framework was that of the Residence Permit for Entrepreneurial Activity, due to the effect of Law no. 56/2023, of 6 October.
Under your specific case I have some doubts if we should do it now, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you think is best, and I will act accordingly
I’ve finally got a vpn that works and am filling out my aima form that will hopefully lead to a renewal appointment. I am doing this without a lawyer and so have a problem with the POA request. Does anyone have a template poa they could share and I could fill out for my purposes. Thanks in advance.
That’s plausible. Would explain why applicants end up having such varied experiences at every stage of this process. Also sounds incredibly inefficient.
I am dependent and my card expired in December 2024. Some people have said their lawyers used the new AIMA contact form to file for renewal appointment. My lawyer said that the last instructions from AIMA were to wait for an email from AIMA if your card expired in 2024 or earlier. I am not sure which approach is correct? Has anyone else receive advice from their lawyer about this?
The option to request the renewal of the ARI residence permit for family members has been made available on the Portal contactenos.aima.gov.pt/contact-form.
Two family members expired in March 2025 and one family member in July 2025. My ARI expired in March 2025, I made the renewal request through this Contactenos Portal two weeks ago and I have already received an email from AIMA with an appointment for in-person renewal on October 23.
I recommend submitting your renewal request via the contactenos form, now that it has the added line for dependants.
I do not recommend passively waiting for AIMA in this scenario, or indeed in any other scenario
Any opinions whether this email response from AIMA is sufficient to trigger the legal requirement in the law to extend validity of permits for additional 6 month period?
2 - After October 15, 2025, documents relating to residence permits will be accepted upon presentation by the holder of a document proving payment of the application for their renewal, issued by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, IP (AIMA, IP), valid for 180 days, counting from its issuance. 0000700008.pdf (549.0 KB)
