I’m all in !

@mrsbrabbit sorry I don’t have an answer for you, with my wife and I having such hectic schedules we have left the details to Gilda and Ei to handle all of our D7 process they know our timeline and will adjust the application process based on that. They have been wonderful so far setting up our Nif and helping set up our Millennium  bank account

that being said I’m hoping to be ready to move the end of this year or early 2022 January-February with my wife and son to follow on reunification visas in May-June 

@mrsbrabbit 

Ola Anna, It is been advisable to us by Ei to arrive to Portugal no later than 2-3 months from the date wince the visa is issued. Yet, your D7 120 days will start from the day of your arrival to Portugal.

Also, once you visas are ready to be issued, the consulate will send you an email confirming your anticipated date of arrival to Portugal (as was in our case). So, they can issue visas starting around that date AND schedule a SEF appointment for you.

in our case, we applied to VFS in the end of February, 2 weeks later, when the consulate asked us about our dates, we replied that we would anticipate to arrive in Portugal in May. when we received our visas in mid of March, the visas dates were from May 1st and with the SEF appointment scheduled for the end of July. We still continued to stay in the US and work until the end of May. Arrived to Lisbon in the beginning of June. Searched for long-term accommodations, signed a contract and waited for it to be registered (by a landlord) with Financas, all in 4 weeks, for our SEF appointment. And voila! 
hope it helps with your math 😀 

@mrsbrabbit You get to choose. Once your D7 is approved the embassy will ask you by email what day you plan to arrive in Portugal. That day is when the 120 begins.