SES2010

Hello Everyone

Myself a UK national and my wife a Portugal national have moved to Coimbra with our 2 children.

I originally applied for a visa D7 in London at the Schengen visa office in May and was told I needed more documentation etc.

I returned in September for another appointment and was then told I was not eligible for the D7 visa as my partner and children hold Portuguese nationality and that I need to apply for a Family Reunification visa directly from SEF in Portugal.

now I’m back in Coimbra and I am discovering that trying to even get SEF to answer the phone is impossible as the phone lines are always off.

they don’t reply to emails and if you turn up at the office the tell you to call the phone lines that are turned off.

ive met with an immigration lawyer who said this is currently a huge problem in Portugal.

does anyone have any tips or advice how I can get anywhere with this?

I only have 90 days left in the Schengen Area before I’ve hit the 180 day limit.

Thank you for any advice or help

Currently we are buying a house here, my daughter has started private school and my baby will soon start nursery and I will be stuck for 6 months in the UK thanks to Brexit

Byron

Rambling archer

Don't panic just yet. Welcome to Portugal ... you may not know, though it has cropped up in other threads on the Forum, but the SEF is currently being re-organised/dismantled/ messed-about-with. There are various bits of the huge department that are going to be farmed out to Police and GNR (national military police) services - such as apprehending illegal immigrants, policing the borders and airports/ports etc - and then there is the office wallahs who would handle the paperwork for legal immigrants such as us. So there is turmoil!! Meanwhile all of us who were here legally as residents prior to Brexit are still waiting to upgrade our Residencia documents to a biometric card. Other folk arriving since January this year have joined the back of the queue ... There is supposedly a push at present to get these cards issued which involves SEF getting appointments organised for the thousands of us Brits (since Brexit) and other nationalities too, to be done in October - and here we are half way through October and nothing happening as yet.

Yours would seem to be a special case. Have you sent in anything in the way of application or documents to the SEF here in Portugal, or have you just met the stonewall so far?
Have you looked at https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/entrada-em-portugal/
and https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/solicitar/residir/art98-2/
and this seems to be a form to fill in https://imigrante.sef.pt/wp-content/...ntoAR_2018.pdf

By the way - without a visa yo have 90 days in Portugal (and within the Schengen area, eg Spain/France etc) WITHIN a 180 day period - not 180 days ...

SES2010

Hi
Thanks for your reply

Yes I am aware of the 90 day limit
I returned to london for 2 weeks and have been advised that the period resets on return to the schengen area but that over 360 days you can stay 180 total within the Schengen area

só two periods of 90 days or several smaller stays so long as it’s less than 180 days total?

I was here for almost 90 days in the summer and have now been back again for 7 days

Basically with SEF we have had no response via email, the phone lines are always off and my wife turned up at there office this week and they just told her to call the phone lines to get an appointment.

so we are stuck currently as I have about 80 days left total before I need to be out of the Schengen area for 6 months if I don’t get a visa appointment

the immigration lawyer said that as long as we have an appointment booked I can stay for up to 3 years the problem is we can’t get an appointment

Bomber Harris

That's not how the Schengen limit works, you are limited to a maximum of 90 days in 180 days (the 180 days being counted backwards from whatever the current date is). A 2 week exit to London doesn't reset the clock and give you another 90 days on your return.

SES2010

Hi

yes I’ve just found this out

SES2010

I’m slightly worried then as what’s the best course of action now.

I need to return to the uk regularly as I run a business in London, although I can work remotely I still need to attend to some management duties etc.

I have 6 days left then before I have been here 90 days in the last 180 days rolling period

any ideas greatly appreciated before I get stuck in the uk for 6 months with my family here

Alan PT

It's worth following the "Brits in Portugal" Facebook page of the British Embassy as they often post updates. You could also try contacting them, though people report mixed results with this, as I guess they are getting a bit more work than usual!

They posted this recently, which might be helpful:

Brits in Portugal

12Octoberat09:40 ·
UK Nationals Support Fund in Portugal until 26 November 2021 ]OIM Portugal - International Organisation for Migration - will continue to provide support to British nationals and their family members under the Withdrawal Agreement until Friday, 26 November 2021. If you need any help with your residency process, you can contact IOM by sending an email to [email protected], or calling (+351) 91 388 64 56 (office hours: 10am-12pm and 2.30pm-4pm). For more information, please check https://www.uknationalspt.com/

Alan PT

BTW, I can't see why having a family with Portuguese nationality would mean that you are not eligible for D7. I suspect the PT Embassy just suggested that a Family Reunification would be easier/better (and that would normally be the case)

Also, if you are heading back regularly to the UK, it may be difficult to escape the deadly tax embrace of the UK, due to the twisted traps of SRT: https://www.gov.uk/government/public...dence-test-srt

I know this isn't your top concern right now, but worth bearing in mind

SES2010

Hi

VFS flatly refused on my second visit to process a D7 application as they said due to having Portuguese family members I would not be eligible to apply and that the consulate or whoever it is they send the visa application to would refuse it and send it back.

she even went to see her manager and they said the same thing.

they never said this in May only on my last visit

SES2010

I’m not sure about the tax situation but I’ll be paying UK tax as my business is Uk based and we are keeping our flat in London.

Alan PT

I have encountered VFS before when applying for Indian visas. Basically it's an overpaid admin service and their responses just mean "sounds complicated, go away". If you can manage to actually talk to someone at the PT embassy then they may be more helpful (whether on D7 or another route)

Basically, try every route you can think of to make a nuisance of yourself - PT embassy in UK, UK embassy in PT, raising a complaint https://portaldaqueixa.com/brands/se...ras/complaints

As noted in another response, it's all a bit of a mess at the moment, so be persistent and annoying and make it clear that it's not just an issue of being impatient, it's really a critical family separation problem

Alan PT

Ah, you are stuck with completing both UK and PT tax returns then

It's worth considering paying a tax specialist, since your situation is a little more complicated than if you fully relocated and you may need to refer to double taxation reliefs and consider things like CGT on your UK property

appman999

Email addresses for Portuguese consulate in the UK, [email protected] or try [email protected].

I have had responses from them although they don't address my particular questions.

Best of luck.

SES2010

many thanks and to everyone else who is helping

Rambling archer

Can your PT other half do something while she is in Coimbra with the children ... perhaps she can find a route to bring you to her? Perhaps she can stir things up on the family separation/reunion side of things from the Portuguese point of view? Can she phone/email to the consulate/foreign-office (PT govt) directly and appeal on your behalf?