Following countless unsuccessful attempts to make appointments on the ARI Website, the online version of the Público newspaper reported on 15th January that the Portuguese Government will allow investors and their family members to renew their expired Residence Permits online.
In practice, this measure means that foreign citizens, whose biometric data are already stored in the SEF (Foreigners and Borders Service) database and whose documentation is known by SEF, will be able to renew their Residence Permits for Investment Activity without the need to previously appear at a SEF Department of the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras.
The renew online is expected to start on 16th January, and, it will originally be availible for the ARI which expired between 01st January and 31st March, 2023.
Although the solution is praiseworthy and aims to reduce the long wait for appointments and the inconvenience caused to foreign citizens, the procedure raises some doubts as to its execution, namely regarding the way in which investors and their relatives will prove the mandatory period of stay in national territory.
Finally, it is also important to mention that the measure does not provide an answer to the cases of expired authorisations in the period prior to 1st of January 2023, nor whether investors and their relatives should continue to wait for appointments, which do not seem to be available any time soon.
