The Portuguese consulate in London will work on Saturday mornings until the end of the year, to deal only with personal documents and try to reduce the average waiting time to three months, an official source said.
As of this Saturday, the consulate general in London will be open between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. exclusively to deal with requests for the issuance and renewal of the citizen card and passport.
The consulate general works so that the service is provided within a reasonable period of time, which should not exceed three months for the issuance and renewal of citizen cards or passports,” Consul Luis Leandro da Silva told the Portuguese news agency.
The position has been the subject of debate in recent years with an exponential increase in the demand for these documents due to the need for the Portuguese to apply for resident status as part of the process of leaving the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) .
You restrictions on the operation of the consulate during the Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions contributed to a backlog of applicationswhose wait reached almost a year.
The Saturday operation, an “extraordinary” measure that is expected to last three months, explained Leandro da Silva, “It will enable several additional seats for these events, which are the most in demand”.
The service is carried out by appointment only and vacancies will be opened throughout each week on the programming platform. online Portal das Comunidades Portuguesas, currently the only method, since appointments are no longer made by phone or E-mail.
The diplomat, who took office at the end of August, estimates that, with “foreseeable reinforcements of the means and through constant improvements in operation and other measures, the average waiting times can decrease steadily.”
Urgent cases are treated with priority and in a few days and other consular acts, such as civil registration, notary public or visa issuance, are currently dispatched in “days or a few weeks”.
The post had already had a “very positive” opening experience on the sixth day of the week between April 24 and June 30, 2021, resulting in around 1,400 citizenship cards and passports being issued or renewed.
“We hope that, as a result of the new modalities introduced, the number of additional acts on Saturdays until the end of 2022 will be much higher,” he added.
At the end of the year, the possibility of extending this measure will be evaluated.which will take into account issues such as the level of demand and the availability of human resources.
In order for it to be possible to operate on Saturdays, the consul general clarified, employees have to work overtime voluntarily and without affecting the operation during the rest of the week.
Source: Observadora
