suiko

Both Faro and Olhao offices told me to just turn up, if I wasn't able to use the online system (which I'm not because my "senha" has been sent to my address in 1993).

campos

Thanks for the reply Eric.
i dont get it though. After selecting 1, the asterisk in next menu list just gets the list repeated, whether one listens to the full list, or if one interupts the woman reading the options. * just repeats from the start. What a pain this is proving to be. Maybe i should just call the portimao no. and ask a local stranger to book me an appointment.
or i cpuld try the random dialling method again😄

campos

this is good news. Ill hit one of those

Red Eric

Beg pardon.

Try waiting after choosing option 1 at the first stage, rather than using asterisk. It'll assume you're using a phone which doesn't register keypad presses properly and put you through to a human.

campos

this often happens with call centres but it didnt this time, for me at least. Woman came on again and mentioned fiscal code, then some music interspersed woth a message or two, and then 'obrigado' and call ends

campos

out of curiosity, how did you contact them to get this info? Was it understandable if in Portuguese using your Spanish?

suiko

I used the webchat option on the Portal das Finanças (a couple of times, in fact). I wrote in Portuguese (with some help from Google Translate!) , and asked them for email addresses of specific offices. Both offices answered. You could do the same with Portimao!

cfs

All the information I found (I have been reading a lot on Brazilian forums for Brazilians who are trying to so the same thing) said that you just need to turn up, they won't let you book an appointment as you need a NIF to book an appointment. I just turned up at finanças in Porto and waited for someone to come to the door to call in the people from the queue who had appointments and I explained I was a foreigner and I couldn't book online as I didn't have a NIF and that the reason I was there was to get a NIF. I ended up going to three different offices and two of them told me to just wait and 5 minutes later they called me in and saw me without an appointment (at Loja de cidadão they wouldn't see me as Finanças was closed). If there is more than one Finanças office where you are and you are not successful I suggest going to another one and trying again. I struck lucky at the third one.

campos

yes, at office 4 in Lisbon i found them queuing for their appointments.; I didn't think there was much hope unless one had one. So this is cause for optimism. Thanks.

campos

i found this email posted in the window of Portimão financas [email protected]
do yours for faro and Olhao have same format?

dubster

Glad you got it fixed.

Other option is to get someone with a NIF to call for you to make the appointment. Wot I did, nae bother

suiko

Yes. That'll be it.

campos

An update on my Portimao Financas adventures-
Turned up mid-morning, small queue waiting. Woman came out to take someone's details. Just inside front door is a reception desk. Mercifully the guy spoke English fairly well.
Advised the procedure is to send scanned passport, proof of address etc by email ( in previous post above). They will then issue NIF online.
So i think what I'll do is wait and see if the Faro or Olhao offices issue NIFs on the spot. If so, great. If not, I'll do the digital route with Portimão office.

suiko

Sounds like some good progress, anyway!

Does anyone know how to get the webchat option on the Portal site? Annoyingly I used it a lot a few days ago, but now I can't find it!

BillBullock

You can send a message using e Balcão after logging in. I haven't seen Web Chat anywhere.