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We moved to Portugal on D7 visa and got our first residence card 6 months after our D7  visa was expired. Now we did a sucessfully renewed our residence card and and are 6 months away from its expiration(and have already completed 5 years in Portugal from our 1st entry on D7 residence visa). we would like to apply for Article 125 – Acquisition of long-term resident status.

1. are we eligible to apply for this without applying the national permanent residence which is Article 80 – Permanent Residence Permit?

    2. One of the main distinctions that I found between the requirement(in terms of residence) s of article 125 and article 80 is:

    Article 80: Titularidade de autorização de residência temporária há pelo menos 5 anos

    Article 125: Comprovativo de residência legal e ininterrupta em território nacional durante os cinco anos imediatamente anteriores à apresentação do requerimento.

As it stands, we have already completed 5 years in Portugal from the date we initially entered on D7 visa. There was a delay getting an appointment with SEF for the initial residence card which wasted about 3-4 months and finally got our first residence card 6 months after expiration of D7 visa. Can I say that I have had residência legal e ininterrupta em território nacional durante os cinco anos imediatamente anteriores à apresentação do requerimento for article 125 based on my circumstances- that is from the time we entered on D7 visa. we never left though until we got our first residence card!

Thank you.