SEF appointment cancelled due to strike

SEF will definitely contact you. They're the ones who cancelled the appointment, not you. Your visa is valid until Dec 23.

I would keep checking your SEF personal area.

Mine was not a renewal but a first time appointment for a residence card. how does SEF contact you in such an instance - by email? I am.not fluent in Portuguese and a phone call will not really help as I will not understand what they are saying, besides they don't even have my new phone number.

I really hope they don't offer me an appointment after 6 months!

SEF employees speak english. You should get a new date on your address and on your personal area. The same way you were made aware that your appointment has been cancelled.

How do you know your appointment has been cancelled? I am having an appointment next Monday and not sure whether it will be cancelled.. but I will be flying to Lisbon to have the appointment! not sure whether I will need to go ahead with the appointment or not

How do you know your appointment has been cancelled? I am having an appointment next Monday and not sure whether it will be cancelled.. but I will be flying to Lisbon to have the appointment! not sure whether I will need to go ahead with the appointment or not

@potentcatalyst,

The SEF strike took place yesterday and today, 2 days.

Next week, scheduling should remain as planned.

@JohnnyPT

One thing that I don't understand is that the administers are having strike yesterday and today, but the inspectors was supposed to have strike until 10-April but seemingly the strike has been suspended while the inspector union negotiate with government

https://rr.sapo.pt/noticia/pais/2023/04/05/greve-inspetores-do-sef-suspendem-primeiro-dia-de-paralisacao/326527/

Does that mean the SEF offices (that responsible for visa appointments) are managed by administrative staff and not the inspectors?

Just concerned that inspectors will resume strike and that will last until 10-April

Thank you Johnny for your kind help!

That's right. Inspectors are, for example, at the entrances to the country, such as airports. The administrative staff are involved in attending to the public, visa appointments, etc.

https://rr.sapo.pt/noticia/pais/2023/04 … ao/326527/

@Newly_arrived35 Hi, I'm going through the same issue. My appointment was on April 5th at Odivelas SEF. No update yet on SEF website but I will be going to their office after Easter holidays. Hopefully they can attend to us first instead of rescheduling. I have been waiting for 4 months only for them to strike on my appointment day.

@joePT1  please update as to what they said once SEF offices open.  I am gonna do the same.   Have you tried getting any appointments online- if you registered in the balcao section área pessoal. In the event you not, you can using your visa label number.

@Newly_arrived35 I will keep you updated. Yes, I registered on SEF website with the visa number but rescheduling is not possible at the moment.

@joePT1 are they going to be open tomorrow? I am not sure if they are going be closed because of Easter holiday or the strike is still in effect.

I am not sure what they normally do, do they put you back another 6 months? That b so unfair!

@Newly_arrived35 They are open today. They told me to call their support number to reschedule another appointment. And the number is not going through at all. I guess I will have to keep trying.

@joePT1 same. They are open today and refused to entertain me today , saying you just have to keep trying calling the call centre. The call centre never responds and I really do not know what to do

@Newly_arrived35 They won't attend to me either. The tip I received from a friend was to call them very early by 8am or before they close at 8pm. I hope it works. I will keep trying and keep you updated.

@joePT1 I have had no luck with the call center even around 8 pm. How about you? Not sure what to do at this point!

@Newly_arrived35 Hi, I sent an email yesterday, received an auto response immediately. Today, I was able to speak to someone after dialing over 1000+ times. They took my phone number and email, and said SEF will contact people who were affected by the strike "very soon" by phone or email to schedule another appointment .  So, don't give up, keep calling nonstop and make sure to speak with someone. Good luck.

@joePT1  thank you for the update. I still haven't been able to speak with a rep although I haven't dialed 1000+ times. How on earth did you do that- please tell me you were implying figuratively only lol. Each time I call the line is busy but there was one time I was able to get thru only to hear " lamentamos.... Sorry we cannot ..." Do you push any buttons once the pre recorded message starts playing?

@Newly_arrived35 Honestly, I dialed the number 494 times before I could get through. I dedicated some time and kept redialing after it says user or line busy. You are finally in once you hear the music playing. Update today: just received an email from SEF, they've rescheduled my appointment for Sat 15th April at Cascais. I called (183 times)them back today to confirm if the office will be open on Saturday, and they confirmed it will. I hope you are getting through too?

@joePT1  lucky you and am happy for you! just checking is this the number you called 965903700? Each time I was able to get thru, the message was saying it is not possible to take this call.. we are available online www.sef.pt (all in Portuguese)

@Newly_arrived35 Yes, that's their mobile number. Here is the landline +351217115000. I got the same message too but you just have to keep calling. It actual require nonstop/constant dialing immediately it says line/user busy. May the fastest fingers wins 😃

@joePT1 just curious - does your new appointment appear in your SEF área pessoal as well or just the email.

At the time you spoke with the rep, did you still have your old appointment in the SEF portal? Mine- I tried rescheduling on 6th of April and none were available and now there is no record - at least in the SEF área portal that I had an appointment on the 5th.

Honestly, I am sweating it bad.