A total of 50 people will be employed by the Portuguese government at consulates in Brazil in an effort to speed up the process of visa applications for Brazilian applicants.
According to Portugal Giros, the consulates in Brazil are in immediate need of new workers. It is yet to be determined how many workers will be stationed in Lisbon and outside the country, Schengen.News reports.
Applications for new employees will open on October 3, and the selection process will be in the form of a competition.
Brazilian Employees at Portuguese Consulates Complain Over Salaries
Brazilian consulates of Portugal are highly exposed to greater demand. It happens frequently that some processes go beyond the deadline in these consulates, causing more issues for visa applicants in the country.
Employees in Brazil are also complaining about their working conditions, especially for their salaries. They say that their salaries have remained at the same exchange rate of euros against real since 2013.
They also say that the environment where they work is ‘terrible’, with the slow process of the analyses being one of the main factors. The ministry has been informed about the situation, but no answers have been given yet.
Previously, Brazilian nationals have also complained about the long waiting times for Portugal residence cards, with some revealing that they have been waiting for over one year. The deadline for the delivery of the residence card is up to 60 days.
Portugal Is Top Destination for Visa Applicants From Brazil
Brazilian passport holders are exempted from the requirement to apply for a Schengen visa. This means that people of this nationality are allowed to travel visa-free to the Schengen Area for short stays.
However, foreigners living in Brazil who come from third countries that do not have a visa liberalisation agreement ongoing with Schengen Member States are required to apply for a visa. Brazilians who want to take up employment in the EU also need to obtain a long-term Schengen visa.
According to statistics published by SchengenVisaInfo, visa applicants in Brazil have filed 1,931 requests. The majority were approved – 1,501 of those applications, accounting for approval rates of 77.7 per cent.
Around 354 were denied (18.8 per cent of the total), while the number of multiple entry visas (MEVs) reached 580, indicating that over one-third (38.6 per cent) of the holders of granted visas had received multiple entries to Schengen states.
The top three destinations for visa applicants from Brazil are Portugal, France and Spain. These three countries received 57 per cent of all visa applications filed for 2023.