The Portuguese Government will now require a consular residence visa for study for students enrolled in Portuguese schools, a situation that has created several problems in the entry and regularization of Portuguese-speaking students.
The diploma was announced, on Thursday, in the statement released after the Council of Ministers and amends “the regime of access to residence permits for study, requiring the issuance of a prior consular visa for this purpose”.
Until now, the students applied to Portuguese institutions and only after enrolling on national soil did they meet the requirements to apply for a residence permit in Portugaldespite being in the country without a visa or with a tourist visa.
This situation put many Portuguese-speaking students at risk, particularly in the case of Guinea-Bissau, who entered with a tourist visa and proof of a successful application to the institution, but were then detained at the border by the authorities.
In the case of Brazilian students, as the country is visa-free, students entered the country without problems but After enrolling, they had difficulties accessing a residence permit, as they were already in Portugal.
At a conference in Lisbon, Pedro Portugal Gaspar was confronted with the regular detention at the airport of Guineans who come to study in Portugal with missing documents.
“Guinea-Bissau has several episodes” and is “always with Guinea-Bissau”, but “there is a need for greater synchronization with the consular network”, the AIMA director then admitted.
