On the opening day of the new visa center for Portugal, in Luanda, on Rua Guilherme Ferreira Inglês, Largo da Ingombota, the huge cordon of people, at the entrance and around the building, served as a welcome card to the institution.
Several users who have been there since the early hours of Tuesday in search of local services, including visas, appointments, passports and others, complained about the "slowness" in service and the "disorganization" in queuing.
"As we know, it is the first day of service in the new facilities, it is a little busier and the external organization is not the best, we are confident that, in the coming days, they will be able to improve, but at least some organization should be created, more concrete", Father Wilson Domingos told Lusa this Tuesday.
At the entrance to the new visa center in Portugal, where he says he arrived at 06:00 am local time and almost four hours later he still had not been seen, the Passionist Catholic missionary, flanked by colleagues from the priesthood, complained of "disorganization".
For Father Wilson Domingos, who is traveling to Portugal for the first time, the delay in visas is the result of "legal procedures to enter a given country", considering that there is still bureaucracy in relation to the Mobility Agreement of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), approved in October 2022.
Nurse Júlia Manuel, 27 years old, expressed her expectations regarding the care at the new visa center for Portugal, hoping that the process would be quick.
"There is a lot of demand (for visas to Portugal) and I think that because it is really in demand, it is taking" longer. "When we register it says it is for 45 days, but since last November I only received the notification on Friday", she told Lusa.
Without any information about the CPLP Mobility Agreement, Júlia Manuel also said she was "curious" to travel to Portugal for the first time and hopes that the new center will respond to her desires, issuing the desired visa.
Damião Mabiala, 30 years old, who went to the center to obtain a visa for Portugal, where he intends to emigrate again, after a previous experience of five years, also regretted the time spent waiting in line to access the facilities.
"I came here to file my visa application. I intend to emigrate, I hope this center is better than in the past and is more productive. I've been here since 8:00 am local time, this is the second time I'm looking to travel to Portugal", he said.
Unaware of the CPLP Mobility Agreement, the commercial agent also confirmed the "high demand" for visas for Portugal.
Journalist Jizelaide Sousa, who said she was "familiar with Europeans", said that she has priority in service, regretting, however, the "long waiting time, in a huge queue, where nobody says anything".
"I'm here at this time due to the flood, I arrived early, I'm familiar with a European, we have priority but so far we haven't been attended to", she lamented.
"Efficiency, quality, innovation and speed" in services are Jizelaide's appeals to the employees of the new visa center in Luanda.
"Honestly, I think the place where I was was better, here it's worse, I don't know if it's because it's the first day, but the service is terrible", she shot.
The journalist, who said she does not have many difficulties obtaining a visa, believes that the complaints and/or refusals to obtain visas result from "fears" that they will be asked by applicants to emigrate.
Regarding the CPLP Mobility Agreement, Jizelaide Sousa commented: "Let's hope that there is an improvement in services and that people as soon as they enter can get residency and visa facilitation, because not everyone goes to Portugal to stay, some are even on vacation, as is my case", he concluded.
On the opening day of the VFS Global visa centre, dedicated exclusively to Portugal, the consul general, Rosa Lemos Tavares, asked for "time" and "trust" from users and added that priority will be given to CPLP visas.
The Portuguese ambassador Francisco Alegre Duarte also considered that this is a decisive step to guarantee "greater dignity" in the assistance of visa applicants for Portugal, with "greater comfort and speed", a change that he considered even more relevant in view of the increase in requests that has been registered in recent months, driven by increasing mobility and a return to post-pandemic normality.
Lusa asked the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information on the number of visas processed in Luanda, the average processing time and investment in new facilities, but received no response.
