João Gomes Cravinho, who this Wednesday concluded a two-day visit to Luanda, spent the morning learning about the problems related to the granting of visas and said that the delays that resulted from the pandemic situation are already being recovered.
"We have a visa approval rate that is high in the order of 83 percent", said the head of Portuguese diplomacy, although he admits that "more speed is needed" in the processing of these requests and other acts of a consular nature.
Still, today, the "visa application cadence is much higher than it was a year or two ago" and that will have an impact over the next few weeks and months, he said.
He also indicated that it is necessary to improve communication between the public and the consulate, "areas of work" on which the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, whom he asked to visit Luanda "soon", will focus on "test solutions".
The official told journalists that the maximum time established in the visa facilitation protocol is 30 days "and this is being fulfilled", stressing that urgent cases, such as medical treatments or student visas, are treated as a priority.
"Let's look for an improvement," he reiterated.
In the last month, 2000 visas were issued by the Portuguese consulate in Luanda.
Asked about the availability of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) to monitor the general elections in Angola, scheduled for August 2022, João Gomes Cravinho said that this is a decision that belongs to Angola, but underlined that the political situation was not addressed during this visit.
"If that is the sovereign will of Angola, there will certainly be availability, the CPLP has done this in several countries, until now recently in Timor-Leste. It is a possibility, but it has to start with a manifestation of will on the Angolan side. If there is that interest, for sure there will be correspondence," he said.
