Expat Community > Portugal

ColoNative
Joined 2022
Posts: 8

My San Francisco D7 meeting

2 years ago

Yesterday I had my appointment in San Francisco for my D7 Visa. The VFS office is essentially a row of seven windows with clerks on the other side who take your Application and supporting documents. (Interesting aside: Three of the windows are for nine countries, including Portugal; four windows were for France! There were never more than three applicants and clerks in the room however, when I was in there.)

While I waited I saw a sign that said Portugal applicants needed to have a cashier’s check or money order made out to the Consulate of Portugal. I could have sworn I saw somewhere on my appointment memo they would take a debit card. I was allowed to leave to run to a USPS office a half block away to get a money order for around $42 before the Portugal clerk came out.

The Clerk, who said he was not Portuguese, shuffled through my papers and checked boxes on a sheet. I thought afterwards I should have asked for a blank copy of his check list. I had to sign an authorization for a criminal check in Portugal. Then the clerk said my money order only paid the VFS fee, so he let me run out again for the Consulate fee of about $105. I elected to let them take my passport with a SASE, but was required to sign a release of liability if they lose my passport. The clerk did take my debit card for $35 to pay to overnight my passport with the new visa to me, and confirmed my mailing label with me, so I guess I wasted my stamps. There was no interview. The clerk merely said “You gave me a good checklist.”

In the appointment memo I had received, there were details about taking my biometrics. However, the clerk said it wasn’t necessary since I had sent my fingerprints electronically to the FBI (I had presented the FBI criminal check in the unopened envelope)

At this point I will say thanks for the “Portugal Visa & Residency Guide” a/k/a “United States Citizens Moving to Portugal: Demystifying the Paper Trail”. It was my main source of information for my D7 process.

However the meeting ended on a deflating note when the clerk told me there is such a back-up of Applications, my passport probably won’t be returned for 10-12 weeks. This must be the slow bureaucracy I have read about. I was hoping to move in late March but might have to wait as late as May. That is waay too much time to procrastinate doing what I need to do before my move. :-)

William Russell

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William Russell

Get a quote for international health insurance from our partner, William Russell.
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William Russell

Get a quote for international health insurance from our partner, William Russell.
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William Russell

Get a quote for international health insurance from our partner, William Russell.
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Expat Community > Portugal

My San Francisco D7 meeting

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