At the new visa center dedicated to Portugal, inaugurated on Monday in Luanda, the almost endless queues from the early hours of the day are a symbol of the ambition of young people who are betting on the European dream to make their lives come true.
Seeking better living conditions, job opportunities, qualified training or tourism are the purposes of many young people who believe in better days, but outside Angolan territory.
Anxiety leads many to wake up early to get a priority seat in the queues, where tempers often flare due to the waiting time to get a response to your visa, passport or just to get an appointment.
"There's a lot of demand for visas for Portugal, because Portugal for us is the door to Europe, that's why there's really a lot of demand", said this Tuesday to Lusa Damião Mabiala, 30 years old, commercial agent, anxious to emigrate for the first turn.
In the midst of hundreds of young people, who do not go unnoticed by those who circulate in Largo da Ingombota, in the center of Luanda, is the young businesswoman Mirela Almeida, who wants to get to know Portugal and do tourism, although she does not rule out the possibility of settling there.
"I'm going to Portugal for tourism, to get to know it, just to get to know it. I've always wanted to go there and, so, I think now is the right time, I came here to make an appointment", she said.
Mirela Almeida, 27, knows about the "despair" of many young people who want to emigrate in search of better living conditions: "It's very normal for people to be looking for better conditions and that's why there's all this flooding".
Pointing to the people around the new visa issuing center for Portugal, Mirela assured that she does not intend to stay in Portugal, but admits that possibility for the future.
"Everyone wants to go out and discover new countries and here's all that demand. So far I'm not going to stay, who knows later on", she explained.
Touring is also the aim of agronomist Abreu Sateco, 28, who says he is looking forward to getting to know "the lands of Camões", but does not want to emigrate.
"Each one has their purposes and goals to achieve in life," he said.
Cristo Lomba, on the other hand, wants to emigrate to do higher education in Portugal and look for other directions in Europe, because he says he is "desperate" with the "lack of job opportunities and qualified training" in Angola.
"It is a wish of young people, because here the living conditions and the ease or quality of teaching is not as effective as in European countries, such as Portugal (which) has a good quality of education, has a stable life, in which any one manages to live or have a job", he said.
The 24-year-old student and bar worker, who went to the place to find out about the procedures for obtaining a visa for Portugal, says that the desperation of young Angolans to emigrate is widespread, mainly due to the high unemployment rate.
"One of the biggest problems here in Angola is unemployment, so this anxiety to emigrate to (countries in) Europe, like Portugal, has been arising through this situation of lack of employment", he argued.
"Yes, I say yes, we are desperate. Nowadays, you ask young people if they want to emigrate, they say they would not look back if they had the opportunity, all because of these situations, the quality of life is terrible, there is no job", he said.
Portugal inaugurated a dedicated visa center in Luanda, with which it hopes to speed up processes, according to the consul-general, who asked for "time" and "confidence" from users and advanced that priority will be given to CPLP visas.
Rosa Lemos Tavares pointed out that in October the processing of new types of national visas began, introduced by the new Foreigners Law that made it possible to implement the Mobility Agreement of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), creating the sub-regime of CPLP visas.
These national visas provide for stays in Portugal of more than 90 days and are intended to attend higher education, work, prolonged medical treatment and family reunification, among other categories, to which new ones have been added, such as digital nomads, job search and monitoring familiar.
Until now, visa applications for Portugal were delivered and processed at a VFS Global centre, along with those for South Africa, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, the Netherlands and Ukraine.
The company VFS Global, contracted by the Portuguese Government, handles the scheduling and acceptance of online visa application applications, while the authorization of visa applications is done by the consulate.
According to Rosa Tavares, the new facilities are divided into two areas (visa application submission and passport delivery), with more counters, more employees and two waiting rooms in each area, one with 40 and the other with 34 seats, as well as a digital kiosk with access to the websites of VFS Global, the Consulate of Portugal in Luanda and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' visa portal.
