D7 application - VFS Global selections?

@FIRE_Expat,

It seems to me that there is some confusion here.

https://www.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/por … index.html

The way to D7 is this:

3. National visa

3.2 National Visa Residency Type D

3.2.4 Fixed Residency

PURPOSE TYPE OF VISA

Retired

People living on their own income

Religious training within a religious congregation

TYPE OF VISA

Residency Visa for Establishment of Residence for Pensioners, Religious Purposes or People Living on Their Own Income.

Note

3.1 National Visa Temporary Category E is temporary visa for short stays. So don't choose this one.

3.2 National Visa Residency Type D is for residency purposes, long stays:  D1, D2, ... D7, D8 visas

Either one (long stay or national D works. Book whatever has appointments available. Many times there are only slots available under the long stay tab.

At the end, it doesn’t matter to them which one is it. The thing is you need an appointment for each applicant. They don’t have to be all together, you go to that first one and request they see everyone in your family applying together, but show they have appts scheduled and they may charge you a fee to see them before their appt time.

@MagneticMe, can you explain how you know that any appointment type will work?  I really want to believe you, because I have appointments for myself and my two family members in late March - and I'd really like to keep them! 

However, it will cost us at least $10,000 if we show up and they say they can't help us because we have the wrong type of appointment.  I feel like a total jerk questioning you, but can you explain a bit how you know that they will be ok even if we have the wrong type of appointment?  Again, my most sincere apologies for asking for more clarification, but I'm going to be at some financial hardship if you're wrong!

Thank you again for your reply. 

@FIRE_Expat,
It seems to me that there is some confusion here.

You're 100% correct!  Because I'm so confused, I am going to re-state what I think you said - just to be totally clear.

You believe that the correct answers to the two questions are:

Appointment Category - Long Stay (NOT Portugal Visa Application)

Appointment Sub-Category - National D Visa

Again, I am sorry for being so obtuse, and I thank you so much for your contributions to this forum and to my question specifically.  This question has been causing sleepless nights because a mistake could cause substantial financial harm.  This move is taxing our finances - I could absorb the hit if we're wrong, but it wouldn't be trivial to us.  Again, your help is really appreciated!

You believe that the correct answers to the two questions are:   Appointment Category - Long Stay (NOT Portugal Visa Application)                                Appointment Sub-Category - National D Visa

That's it

What @MagneticMe says makes perfect sense. All type D visas are residential, i.e. long term (+1 year).

https://vistos.mne.gov.pt/en/national-v … pe-of-visa

I'm having the same issue and confusion as FIRE_Expat.  When trying to book an appointment, the VFS website takes me to the categories - "Portugal Long Stay" or "Portugal Visa Application".

If I choose "Portugal Long Stay" then the subcategory of "National Visa D" it says there are no appointment times.

If I choose "Portugal Visa Application" then the subcategory of "Long Stay", it gives me dates and times to book the appointment.

So does anyone know if this appointment type work for a D7 visa?

Thanks for any and all help!

@hankinssteve

This is a confusion on the part of VFSGlobal. Talk to them.

https://www.vfsglobal.com/en/individuals/contact.html

@hankinssteve

It seems that they open only a few appointments under the "Long Stay" and "National D Visa" category each day.  Appointments in San Francisco just opened for April today, I believe, for that category.  There were only a few each day in April, while under "Portugal Visa Application" and then "Long Stay" there were a lot.  I think the first category filled within half a day.  I was able to cancel my March appointments this morning and nabbed 3 appointments in April with the correct settings. 

If I had to guess, they'll open more appointments for May in a month.  That's a total guess though.  I think your best bet may be to check each day and hope to catch the May appointments when they open.  Or check each day for cancellations.

Another option is to subscribe to a bot.  I downloaded Telegram and paid some Romanian bot programmer to get notified when spots opened.  It cost $30 and didn't seem to be a scam - although I put the charge on a credit card I never use and have set to notify me of any transactions larger than $1 just in case it is a scam.  They did notify me as soon as appointments opened up, so it paid off for me. 

@hankinssteve
This is a confusion on the part of VFSGlobal. Talk to them.
[link under review] - @JohnnyPT

When I had this confusion I contacted VFS.  The three different people I talked to were of no help.  They didn't know which one to apply to, when appointments opened, or pretty much anything else.  I may have just talked to three of the less knowledgeable help desk people though.