Portugal Golden Visa Alert! Breaking News! SEF portal for ARI appointments is back online!
SEF online portal for ARI appointments has finally opened again for Portugal Golden Visa investors in 2022. We have received confirmation from several investors that they were able to submit their applications on the portal from 14 June 2022. We have independently verified this information through law firms based in Portugal. The law firms have confirmed that they are indeed able to submit Portugal Golden Visa applications on the portal.
This comes as a huge relief to several investors who completed their Portugal Golden Visa investment in 2022, after the new rules came into effect. After months of uncertainty and frustration, these investors are once again brimming with excitement and hope as they get back on track on their journey to Portuguese permanent residency or citizenship.
My Golden Pass welcomes the decision of the immigration authorities to reopen the ARI portal to Golden Visa investors in 2022. The ARI portal was shut to new investors from January 2022, reportedly due to administrative reasons as the new rules came into effect which increased threshold for certain investments, such as investment funds, and carved out certain regions from the Portugal Golden Visa regulation. These changes needed to be reflected on the online portal, pending which the portal had been suspended. As the months flew by, the investor fraternity was increasingly concerned about the future of the Portugal Golden Visa program. We consistently advised our investors that the online portal was shut due to an administrative or a process-driven issue, rather than a systemic U-turn on the program by the authorities, as was as alleged by some elements.
Reopening the portal to investors once again, underlines the commitment of the immigration authorities to the Golden Visa program. We believe this will help restore confidence among investors. Now that the portal is back online, we strongly recommend investors waiting on the sidelines to complete their investment at the earliest possible, and to submit their applications in the portal so that their approval process can begin straightaway.