Migration planning for Portugal now requires more money in your pocket for some people. Anyone unlucky enough to live far from a VFS Global office in Brazil will have to include travel expenses to apply for a visa in their bills..
From April 17th, applications for all visas to Portugal (with the exception of tourist visas, which are not necessary), will be made in person. The last day to receive documents by mail is April 16and everything sent after this date will be disregarded, warn the Portuguese consular authorities.
Consultant Danielle Lago tells DN Brazil that many are anticipating shipping so as not to have to make a trip. “Many are running, as they live far from the consulates and this will be an additional expense, as they will have to travel to the consulate to try to file the application before the rules change. But they will have to adapt and anyone who really wants a visa will have to go to the consulate”, he explains.
The change was announced a few days ago. “It is an initial shock, but it is a reality applied to all other consulates. It is normal for a person to have to present themselves to obtain a visa. It’s a complication, but it makes sense from the point of view of consular control and document validation, even to confirm that the person is, in fact, in Brazil, applying for a visa in the national territory, and that they are aware of all the documentation”, he highlights.
Currently, study visas have been one of the most requested. This is because the work search visa has been suspended since October. “I receive messages every day asking about this,” he says. It was the most requested type of document until then. There is no forecast for it to be resumed and the DN Brazil he knows by Government sources that there is no rush to issue them again. When they resume, it will be exclusive to “highly qualified professionals”. An interministerial ordinance with a list of professions was expected, which has not yet been created.
Danielle explains that applying for a student visa became an alternative. “What I see from Brazilians is the search for other ways to come, and not giving up. In March, we broke our company’s record for study visa requests. In seven years of business, we had never issued so many visas for students”, he says. At the same time, he confirms that many use this visa for other purposes: “Let’s be realistic: many do not have study as their main objective, but end up studying in Portugal and use this route as a way of regularization, with their family, and as a gateway”.
At the same time, the businesswoman sees that consulates are much more demanding with details and rules. “They are much more careful with documentation and no longer provide insufficient or inconsistent documentation as was the case in the past (…). The consulate is absolutely right, but they didn’t go to that level of detail before. They are also more careful with the analysis of subsistence. Getting a visa is becoming more bureaucratic every day”, he analyzes.
Pati Lemos, from Vou Mudar para Portugal, warns that people should not leave their order until the last minute. “It’s very important, because everything will be in person. It’s necessary to change the migration planning and be quick, because places will be contested”, he anticipates. THE DN Brazil asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) how many vacancies will be made available and whether the new method will not create inequalities. However, he did not receive a response.
Like Danielle, the Brazilian also receives daily questions about the work search visa. In addition to explaining the suspension and change in criteria for this type of visa, Pati Lemos explains that Portugal has changed a lot in relation to immigration. “The country has grown, the country has changed, so has the economy. Planned immigration is even more important”highlights.
And supervision is also more rigorous, which is the message from the authorities, in the voice of Paulo Flor, from the Central Return and Readmission Unit of the Public Security Police (PSP). “Coming to Portugal for ease is a wrong idea. This Portugal once existed, but it no longer exists. People have to prepare themselves, otherwise it will go wrong”he concludes.
amanda.lima@dn.pt
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