Refund policy

1. The 14-day EU consumer right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer resident in the EU/EEA and buy a Service for personal use, you have a 14-day right of withdrawal under EU Directive 2011/83/EU as transposed into Portuguese law by Decree-Law n.º 24/2014. The 14 days are counted from the day after you complete checkout.

Two scenarios under DL 24/2014

• Service partially performed during the 14 days at your express request (Article 15): you may still withdraw, but you will owe us a proportionate amount for the work already done up to the moment of withdrawal. In practice, the pro-rata grid in §2 gives you that proportion explicitly
• Service fully performed within the 14 days (Article 17(1)(a): exceptions to the right of withdrawal): the right of withdrawal is lost only if (a) you gave us your prior express consent to begin performance immediately and (b) you acknowledged that you would lose the withdrawal right once the Service was fully performed. Both confirmations are part of our engagement letter and are recorded with the audit trail of your electronic signature

Where the 14-day right does not apply, has expired, or has been lost, our pro-rata refund policy in §2 still applies (and is usually more generous than the strict 14-day proportion).

2. Pro-rata refund grid (per service)

How much you get back depends on the stage of your case at the moment we receive your written cancellation request. The grid applies per Service: if you bought a bundle, each Service is evaluated separately (see §7).

How we identify the stage

Every administrative action on your case is timestamped in our audit log. When you request cancellation we look up the latest action and map it to the grid above. If you disagree with the stage we assigned, you can ask to see the relevant audit entries and we will explain.

3. Worked examples

Concrete examples to make the math obvious. All figures in USD, before Stripe processing fees.

Example A: Cancellation before signing

You paid $1,490 for a D7 visa filing on Monday. On Tuesday you change your mind and email us before signing the engagement letter. Stage: "before signing" → refund $1,490 (100%), settled to your card within 10 business days.

Example B: Cancellation mid-drafting

You paid $1,190 for LDA incorporation, signed the engagement letter and the procuração, and we have drafted the articles of association but not yet filed with the IRN. State fees not yet paid. You cancel. Stage: "procuração signed; document drafting in progress" → refund $773.50 (65% of $1,190). State fees previously collected from you (if any) are refunded in full.

Example C: Cancellation after AIMA filing

You paid $1,490 for a D8 visa. The procuração was signed, your file was prepared, and we submitted it to AIMA. Two weeks in, you decide not to move to Portugal. Stage: "documents filed" → refund $298 (20% of $1,490). Consulate / AIMA fees already paid on your behalf are not refundable.

Example D: Bundle with mid-flight cancellation

You bought the D8 and IFICI bundle for $2,690 (D8 $1,490 + IFICI $1,390, less $190). The D8 file is mid-drafting and the IFICI registration has not started. You cancel. Result, per Service:

• D8: procuração signed, drafting in progress → 65% of its share of the bundle price ($1,395) = $906.75
• IFICI: engagement letter signed, not yet filed → 85% of its share of the bundle price ($1,295) = $1,100.75

We split the bundle discount evenly between the Services, then apply the stage percentage to each discounted price. We send you a detailed breakdown by email so you can verify.

Example E: Denial caused by our error

You paid $1,490 for a D7 visa. We filed the wrong income evidence by mistake. The consulate refuses. We file an appeal at no extra cost. The appeal also fails for the same reason. Refund: $1,490 (100%) of the professional fee. State fees already paid are not refundable, but if you decide to re-apply later we waive the new professional fee for the same Service.

4. Government / State fees

State fees that we collect from you and have not yet paid to the Portuguese State at the moment of your cancellation are refunded to you in full. Once we have paid them on your behalf to the IRN, AT, AIMA, or a consulate, they are no longer in our hands.

When do we disburse State fees?

It depends on the Service. For LDA incorporation, we usually disburse the RNPC fee within 2 business days of receiving it (to lock the company name) and the commercial-registry fee on the day of the notary appointment. For visa filings, consulate fees are paid on the day you attend the consulate. For AIMA, fees are paid when the appointment is booked (usually within 1 business day of your file being accepted by AIMA).

If you cancel during the window between our collecting the fee and our disbursing it, you receive the full amount back. If you cancel after disbursement, you do not, but we always tell you upfront on the engagement letter when each disbursement happens.

5. When the outcome is denied or wrong

Denial caused by our error

If a visa, NHR / IFICI, NIF or any other outcome is denied because of our mistake: for example, we missed a deadline, filed the wrong document, made a factual error in the application, or misinterpreted the qualifying activity, we will:

• Handle the appeal or re-submission at no extra cost (no professional fee, no extra State fee for the re-submission where the State allows it)
• If the re-submission also fails for the same reason → 100% refund of the professional fee for that Service
• If the re-submission succeeds → you receive the deliverable and no refund is due, but you do not pay anything more

"Our mistake" is a factual question. If we disagree, the dispute can go to the Portuguese consumer-arbitration centre (see Terms §22).

Denial caused by the authority's discretion or by your circumstances

If a visa, NHR or registration is denied because of:

• The authority's discretionary assessment (e.g. AIMA disagreeing with the income evidence, the consulate doubting your reasons to relocate, a tax-residency-test failure)
• Information you provided that turned out to be incomplete, inaccurate or untimely (e.g. a marriage that was not yet registered in PT, an expired document)
• A criminal record, sanction or PEP-related issue that emerged during the screening
• Changes in Portuguese law during your file (e.g. the visa regime changes between submission and decision)

… we handle the appeal at no extra cost. The professional fee is not refunded because our work was performed correctly. You may, however, request a goodwill credit towards another Service, we evaluate these case-by-case.

Bank rejection

Portuguese banks have full discretion to accept or reject any applicant under their AML and risk frameworks. Our bank-opening Service comes with this guarantee:

• If your first partner bank (typically Novobanco) rejects you despite a complete file, we introduce you to a second partner bank at no extra cost
• If both partner banks reject your file within 60 days of NIF issuance, and you cannot reasonably supply additional documentation that the banks have requested, we refund 100% of the "Bank account" professional fee
• Refusals based on documentation you did not supply, or supplied late, do not count for this guarantee
• The 60-day window pauses if the rejection is due to a missing document we are waiting on from you (you have 14 days to supply it, then the clock resumes)

Service interruption or termination by us

If we terminate the engagement for reasons within our control (e.g. we lose authorisation to operate, the partner advogado becomes unavailable and we cannot replace them in a reasonable time), we will refund the unearned portion of the professional fee at the stage you were at, taking the next-higher percentage in your favour as a goodwill adjustment. State fees already paid follow §4.

6. Subscriptions (Caixa Postal Digital)

Recurring services are billed monthly. For Caixa Postal Digital ($49.99/month) and any future subscription:

• Cancellation: any time from the Billing section of your portal, or by emailing us. The subscription stops at the end of the current paid period
• No refund of partial months: once a billing period starts, the fee for that month is not refundable, but you keep access until the end of the period
• Trial cancellation: if the subscription was bundled with LDA incorporation under a free 6-month trial, you can cancel at any time during the trial at no charge. You keep the mailbox until the trial ends, then it terminates automatically without billing
• Service-interruption refund: if the underlying Portuguese State service (ViaCTT / IRN) is unavailable for more than 7 consecutive days for reasons within our reseller scope, we will credit the affected fraction of the month
• Price changes: notified at least 30 days in advance; you can cancel before the new price takes effect without penalty

7. Bundles & multi-service refunds

When you cancel a bundle, we apply the refund grid per Service:

• Each Service is evaluated at its own stage in the grid (NIF may already be delivered while D7 is mid-drafting)
• The bundle discount that applied at checkout is preserved for the Services you keep (we don't claw back the discount on Services already delivered)
• You can also cancel part of a bundle and keep the rest: e.g. cancel the D7 filing but keep the NIF; the remaining Services keep their bundle pricing
• If cancelling a Service drops your bundle below the discount tier it originally hit, we recalculate at the new tier only on the unearned portion of the refund. Worked example available on request, it's rare and we always show the math before settling

8. How to request a refund

1. Email us: write to [email protected] with the subject "Refund request, case #<your reference>". Briefly explain the reason and confirm the payment method that should receive the refund
2. Acknowledgement (≤ 2 business days): we confirm receipt and tell you which stage applies under §2 and which figures we'll use
3. Identity verification: to prevent fraud, we may ask for a quick confirmation from the email we have on file. We do not collect new identification documents for a refund request
4. Detailed breakdown (≤ 5 business days): for anything more complex than a clean §2 case, we send a written breakdown of refundable professional fee, refundable State fees, non-refundable items and the net amount
5. Approval or escalation: if you agree with the breakdown, we proceed. If you disagree, we mediate informally first; if that doesn't resolve it, you can escalate to the Portuguese consumer-arbitration centre or to court (see Terms §22)
6. Settlement (≤ 10 business days): approved refunds are processed back to your original payment method via Stripe. Bank confirmation timing depends on your card issuer; most cards see the refund within 5–10 business days, some up to 20

9. Refund processing timeline

If a refund does not appear on your statement 15 business days after we initiate it, contact your card issuer (their dispute desk can usually trace the refund) and copy us, we will pull the Stripe acquirer reference so the bank can locate it faster.

10. Chargebacks and disputes

Please contact us before filing a chargeback. We'd much rather solve a problem directly than via Stripe's chargeback flow, which is expensive for both sides and slower than a direct refund.

Filing a chargeback for a Service that was correctly delivered may result in:

• Immediate suspension of any ongoing Services on your case
• Recovery of any State fees we already paid on your behalf as a separate debt (we will issue an invoice for them, due in 7 days, and use a debt-collection partner if unpaid)
• If the chargeback is found unjustified by Stripe, you may be charged a Stripe dispute fee (typically $15–€20 in addition to the original amount)
• A note in our internal records that may prevent us from accepting future engagements from you

If you have already filed a chargeback

Email [email protected] with the chargeback reference. We will provide the supporting evidence to Stripe, signed engagement letter, audit trail of work performed, communications log, and either accept the dispute (rare, where the chargeback is justified) or contest it. Outcomes typically take 60–75 days under Stripe's dispute process.

11. AML / KYC suspensions

Under Article 67 of Lei n.º 83/2017, where we are unable to complete Customer Due Diligence (because you refuse to provide identification or source-of-funds documentation, or because the documents you provide contain unresolved inconsistencies), we are legally obliged to refuse or terminate the engagement. In that scenario:

• We may retain fees corresponding to work already performed up to that point, calculated under §2, even where you might otherwise qualify for a higher refund tier
• State fees we have not yet disbursed are refunded in full under §4
• We do not tell you the reason for the refusal if "tipping-off" rules apply (Lei 83/2017 art. 54), but you are entitled to know we have terminated the engagement and the financial settlement
• If you believe the AML decision is unfair, you can complain to the Portuguese supervisor (UIF at the Polícia Judiciária), we will give you the file reference

12. Death, incapacity & transfer

If the Client dies or loses legal capacity during the engagement:

• The Service is suspended immediately on notification
• Heirs or the legal representative may choose to continue the engagement (subject to fresh KYC and a new engagement letter in their own name) or terminate it
• On termination, we refund under the §2 grid as at the date of notification; State fees follow §4
• Where the heirs / representative continues the engagement, no refund is due and the work proceeds in their name

For any other transfer of the engagement (e.g. you move the Service to a relative because your circumstances changed), see Terms §19.

13. FAQ

Can I get a refund if I just changed my mind about moving to Portugal?

Yes: under the grid in §2. The earlier you tell us, the more you get back. If you cancel before signing the engagement letter, you get 100% back.

I paid for a bundle and want to cancel only one Service. Can I?

Yes. We re-quote the remaining Services at their applicable bundle tier and refund the difference. See §7 for examples.

Will I get back the Stripe processing fees?

Stripe processing fees (typically under 2% of the amount you paid) are not refunded by Stripe to us when we issue you a refund. For refunds above $500 we absorb them; for smaller refunds we pass them through (e.g. on a $200 refund you would receive roughly $196).

How long until the refund hits my card?

10 business days end-to-end is typical: 2 for our internal processing, 1–2 for Stripe to issue the refund instruction, and 5–10 for your card issuer to credit the statement. International cards sometimes take longer.

Will I get back the Portuguese government fees?

Only the portion that we haven't yet paid on your behalf. Once the money has left our account and entered the State's, it belongs to the State (see §4).

What if Stripe says my refund failed?

Stripe sometimes can't credit the original card (closed account, expired card, fraud lock). In that case we will reach out to arrange an alternative method, typically a SEPA transfer to a bank account in your name. We need a SEPA-compatible IBAN; non-SEPA wires incur an additional fee that you bear.

I think you delivered the Service incorrectly. What now?

Email us with the case reference and a description of the problem. We will investigate within 5 business days. If we agree we made an error, see §5 (Denial caused by our error), re-submission at no cost, plus a full refund if the re-submission fails for the same reason. If we disagree, you can escalate to the Portuguese consumer-arbitration centre or to court (see Terms §22).

What if you go out of business?

In that scenario we would refund all unearned portions of professional fees and transfer your case files and signed legal documents to a successor consultancy (your choice) or destroy them at your request. State fees follow §4.

14. Contact

If you're not satisfied with our response

• Livro de Reclamações: the Portuguese consumer-complaints book, available electronically at www.livroreclamacoes.pt
• Centro de Arbitragem de Conflitos de Consumo de Lisboa (CACCL): for consumer disputes up to €5,000. Since 2019, where you elect this route we are obliged to submit (arbitragem necessária); the resulting decision has the value of a first-instance court judgment and is enforceable as such
• European ODR platform: for cross-border consumer disputes, ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr
• Court: see Terms §22 for governing law and the Brussels I-bis carve-out for EU consumers