The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) of Portugal has announced that visa renewal, including golden visas, moved online, thus facilitating this process for a large number of foreign residents.
However, it has been clarified that the recent rules don’t mean that people are ineligible to ask for services from SEF in person, but the move has been introduced in order o put an end to long queues, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Through the announcement that was introduced last night, it has been emphasized that this is the first time that the online renewal process included golden visas.
According to the figures provided by Portugal Resident, at present, there are a total of 21,500 people whose visas expire in the following weeks.
It has been reported that the holders of Golden Visas have particularly been frustrated after being subject to such difficulties.
SIC television news said that the daily capacity of the service does not exceed three thousand, emphasizing that in October, during just one day, there were a total of 29 million attempts by people in order to make an appointment for a 12-hour period.
Back in October, it was reported that over 60 per cent of Portugal’s golden visas expired. Despite the fact that SEF guaranteed that documents were valid until December 31, the holders complained that their documents were not being accepted at international airports while stressing that they could not be reviewed.
In this regard, SEF said that “the admissibility of documents and visas related to the permanence of foreign citizens in the national territory has been extended until December 31, 2022,” according to a report provided by the Portugal News.
The report noted that SEF had a total of 19,000 pending requests for renewals of golden visas, thus accounting for a total of 60 per cent of the total.
It was also clarified that SEF opened nearly 7,000 vacancies for the renewal of this kind of visa, but as of 2,000 vacancies were left unoccupied, while a new opening was expected by the end of last year.
According to SEF, the majority of holders of golden visas do not reside in this European country, thus it is not possible to present themselves on the scheduled day. In addition, it was reported that appointments were not always made in advance.
Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme permits wealthy internationals to acquire residency in this country if they meet the needed requirements and contribute financially to Portugal’s economy by making a specific amount of money investment.