CPLP: Portugal consulates see visa requests rise after community mobility deal

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CPLP: Portugal consulates see visa requests rise after community mobility deal

8:02 CAT | 13 Feb 2023

File photo: Lusa

Portuguese consulates are registering “increased demand” for visas, following the mobility agreement of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), the head of Portuguese diplomacy said on Friday in São Tomé.

João Gomes Cravinho stressed that “from a symbolic and practical point of view” the mobility agreement “is a giant step for the CPLP”, having admitted, however, that “there are still issues to be fine-tuned” and that it is still early to assess the results of the measure.

In Sao Tome, where he is on an official visit, the Portuguese foreign affairs minister said that the Portuguese consulate “has managed to increase the issuing of visas very significantly throughout 2022,” but, he argued, there are “other aspects that should be taken care of,” including “training schemes” for people in Sao Tome “before going to Portugal”.

“This is something that we can include in our cooperation relations,” said João Gomes Cravinho, when questioned by journalists at the end of a meeting with his counterpart, Alberto Pereira.

João Cravinho also said that he congratulated Sao Tome and Principe “for the responsibility it took on to hold the summit and to hold the presidency of the CPLP for the next two years,” and assured that on the Portuguese side there will be “full cooperation, full support” to the Sao Tome authorities.

The agreement on mobility between member states of the CPLP was signed on 17 July, 2021, in Luanda, during the 13th Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP.

The agreement aimed to facilitate mobility between member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) through the adoption of a simpler visa issuing regime.

The CPLP mobility agreement establishes a “framework for cooperation” between all member states in a “flexible and variable” manner and, in practice, covers any citizen.

The states are provided with a range of solutions that allow them to assume “commitments arising from mobility in a progressive manner and with differentiated levels of integration”, taking into account their own internal characteristics, in their political, social and administrative aspects.

The CPLP comprises Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste.

On 30 October, the new regime for the entry of immigrants into Portugal came into force, which foresees a facilitation in the issuing of visas for citizens of the CPLP, in the scope of the agreement on mobility between member states.

According to the decree, the citizens of the CPLP can obtain a visa to look for work or a CPLP residence visa, being exempt from the presentation of valid travel insurance, proof of means of subsistence, copy of their return transport ticket and present themselves in person to request a visa.

Source: Lusa