On the eve of the Portuguese Prime Minister's visit to Angola, which should include a visit to the future Consulate of Benguela, Lusa made a tour of the agencies and the visa center in Luanda to find out what concerns Angolans, who are increasingly number seek to go to Portugal.
The problem of scheduling, the first step for anyone wanting to ask the consulate to issue a visa, was the most mentioned.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, João Nimi, deputy administrator of the Lumafer travel agency, said that the scheduling system of VFS, the company contracted for the process, is the biggest difficulty, because it should open once a week, but it hasn't happened, causing considerable embarrassment.
João Nimi highlighted that, due to this situation, the agency has avoided receiving visa applications, on a weekly average of 15, admitting that there are "a lot of people wanting to emigrate", which justifies the delays that sometimes occur in the processing of the process.
Regarding the acceptance and granting of visas, João Nimi said that, even with the recent change in the application of Portuguese law for foreigners, "the processes have been proceeding normally", highlighting that the embassy has been granting visas easily, since that the requirements are fully complied with, with the lack of proof of means of subsistence being one of the reasons for refusal.
"CPLP [Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries] visas continue to come out, work search visas – which are the ones currently in greatest demand – continue to come out quite easily", he highlighted.
According to João Nimi, the difficulty in scheduling through the VFS website generated a new form of subsistence in Luanda. They are "kids aged 15, 16 who control the system all day until it opens", whom he called "schedulers".
"Because there is no exact day or time to open, it is these teams that we are turning to to get appointments", explained João Nimi, highlighting that, due to the difficulty, prices are increasing for those who want to book a spot.
"If the website remains unopened for two or three weeks, that's reason enough to increase another 30 or 40 thousand kwanzas. Last year, at this time, we charged 60 thousand kwanzas, at most 80 thousand kwanzas. At this time, appointments are costing above 150 thousand kwanzas, there are those who charge 250 thousand kwanzas to be a priority", he stressed.
The Luanda consulate also authorizes appointments via email, but "there are difficulties in responding", declared the person in charge, suggesting that the same policy created for Cape Verde be adopted, with the website opening daily for appointments.
Tatiana de Sousa, from the travel agency Wayami – Vistos & Expresso, said that work has been restricted "because everything requires scheduling", which has resulted in losses for the company, which even fears bankruptcy.
"We are seeing a reduction, because everything is part of the scheduling, we are having little adherence, because we cannot move forward with the process without having the scheduling, now it is really difficult to maintain the agency, we could even go bankrupt," he said.
To overcome the difficulty, the agency created a team responsible for controlling the portal daily, as it opens "without day and without time", only four times a month.
"Previously, when it was open all day, we were still able to make four to seven [appointments], now if we make one it is very advantageous", said Tatiana de Sousa, stressing that this difficulty has given rise to "many scams".
In turn, 25-year-old student Carla Moniz, who will apply for the CPLP visa for the first time, complained about the bureaucracy involved in dealing with the documents necessary to apply for the visa, when she tried to handle the process herself.
According to the student, who graduated in computer science in the country and intends to do her master's degree in Portugal, she had to resort to an agent, to whom she paid 290 thousand kwanzas, of which 90 thousand kwanzas were for scheduling, thus managing to make the process faster.
