In a statement to which Lusa had access, the Portuguese Consulate in Luanda, where the number of Angolan students requesting visas for training in Portugal is growing, presents the exempt documents in the visa application.
According to the note, applicants for a visa for higher education in Portuguese territory must have their criminal record certified by the Consulate, which must be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
These are also exempt from prior scheduling and can submit their processes at the Visa Center – VFS Global, in Luanda.
According to the Consulate, these exemptions also apply to applicants who have been accepted into higher education as part of applications under special regimes and who, therefore, appear on the agenda of the General Directorate of Higher Education of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Education Angolan superior.
Scheduling places to obtain visas is one of the main headaches for Angolan students seeking training in Portugal and complaining about “difficulties and bureaucracy” on the part of the Portuguese consulate in Luanda, as Lusa reported last week.
Some, with luck, manage to make the desired appointment within 15 days, made through the VFS Global portal, the body that manages the visa issuance process at the Consulate General of Portugal in Luanda, but the majority wait months to be able to book a place, since, they say, the page is “almost always blocked”.
Several users who go to the Visa Center for Portugal, in Luanda, told Lusa that the process for obtaining visas for students “remains complicated” and they fear losing places in educational establishments.
