Association calls for embassy action on work visa delays in Portugal

Lisbon: Casa do Brasil de Lisboa is intensifying pressure on Portugal’s government to accelerate visa processing for Brazilians.

According to Casa do Brasil de Lisboa, in some cases, Brazilians have to wait for more than 200 days to obtain a work visa.

The non-profit immigrant association in Portugal said the consulates must meet the deadlines and follow Portuguese legislation.

Nationals of Brazil are being subject to long waiting times in order to obtain visas in Portugal, in particular work visas, which in some cases exceed 200 days.

As a result, the non-profit immigrant association in Portugal, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa (CBL), said it would call on the Brazilian Embassy in Portugal and the Migration Council to intensify their pressure on the government of Portugal to resolve this issue, Schengen.News reports.

The association told Politico that Brazilians who have applied for work visas, in some cases, have to wait for over 200 days.

The job search visas were introduced under the mobility agreement with the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in 2022, allowing citizens to stay in Portugal to seek employment.

The new president of the CBL, Ana Paula Costa, said the consulates must meet the deadlines and follow Portuguese legislation.

She considered it unfair that citizens should be punished for the government’s inefficiency in providing services.

In a bid to accelerate the visa processing process, in June 2024, the Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, unfolded plans to hire 50 more employees in order to reinforce the staff at consular posts, however more progress is needed in this regard.

Unfortunately, Casa do Brasil in Lisbon does not work directly with Portuguese consulates in Brazil or other regions. Therefore, we do not have the power to directly deal with visa issuance processes. However, we believe that, for regular migration, it is essential that consular services comply with the deadlines for issuing visas.

Recently, Brazil’s Ambassador to Portugal, Raimundo Carreiro, called on authorities in Portugal to swiftly regularise Brazilians in Portugal.

The ambassador said that the government of Brazil believes that Portugal should make more progress in regularising the thousands of Brazilians waiting for assistance from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), calling for accelerated long-term visa processing.

Nationals of Brazil planning to enter Portugal for work or study purposes and stay for a period of more than 90 days, in any 180-day period, are required to obtain a long-term visa. But, in order to obtain a visa applicants are undergoing long waiting times.

The ambassador told Publico that immigrants with pending documentation often are subject to significant difficulties when accessing healthcare, employment, and education.

Out of about 450,000 cases at AIMA, more than 200,000 are from Brazilian applicants.