Palmyra III

We (myself, wife and son) have received our Residence Visas through the Portuguese Consulate in Manchester. The visas were issued without an appointment at SEF to convert to Residence Permit. We have now applied for an appointment but if the press is to be believed the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) has inherited from SEF a backlog of over 300,000 pending applications. Understandably this will take some time to clear (months? years?). If we cannot get an appointment before our Residence Visa expires what happens? Are we allowed to continue living in Portugal "illegally"? What happens if we want to travel? Will there be a problem at immigration when we want to re-enter the country?

The second part of my stress-inducing problem relates to importation of our household effects and cars. This requires certication from the Portuguese Embassy (to allow duty-free importation) but they are saying they can only do this once the Residence Permit (not Residence Visa) is issued (see above problem). Currently the household effects and cars are in storage which is costing a fortune.

Anybody else suffering from the same issues? Advice gratefully received! Thanks!

EU.flag

Yes, many have same issue due to transition.
If you're lucky one, you might already have appointment auto created.
Create account on sef.pt using your visa info and check if it shows existing appointment.
You should avoid leaving PT until your appointment. Try to obtain evidence of attempts to book appointment.

About car import, you would need to prove you owned car for more then 6 months.

Palmyra III

Thanks EU.flag for your response. I will check the SEF website if it still exists (maybe replaced now by AIMA).

We have all the necessary documentation for exporting our household effects and cars except the Residence Permit. We were previously told that the Residence Visa was sufficient but our local Portuguese Embassy is insisting on the Residence Permit.

EU.flag

SEF website is still up and will be for some time. AIMA takeover will take many many months.

Consulate is right, until you have official face-to-face appointment with SEF, you're not resident. You only have visa permit to arrive and register as resident.
What you are looking for is “Certificado de Bagagem”. Details are on consulate website https://manchester.consuladoportugal...ado-de-bagagem

Eddie5425

Hi Palmyra III
Best of luck with the “Certificado de Bagagem” I filled it out in the UK two years ago sent it off to the London address with the postal order as instructed got nowt back ( "Postal Order" nice little earner for some one 40 quid Thanks) Then had a Spanish Customs official say we estimate you owe 350 euro in VAT without looking in the van. He almost missed us as he was talking with the police. I could see his face as he cut off the conversation and ran over to us to say "relocation pull in over there". Thanks Boris and David