Bangladeshi immigrants denounced Lusa that they are forced to buy vacancies “under the table” to be served in the company that prepares visa applications for Portugal.
One of the problems for the Bengalis is the fact that there is no Portuguese diplomatic representation in their country, which forces them to resort to neighboring India. Between Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and New Delhi, the capital of India, there is a distance of more than 1,800 kilometers.
“To apply for the visa, I had to go to New Delhi and make the distance from Lisbon to France. Then the problem was that I didn’t have an appointment and they told me I had to wait. I was in New Delhi for 26 days. I was lucky to get the visa. My visa in 26 days, I know of cases that were waiting for an appointment for three months, ”she told Lusa Zohorul Moon, who has lived in Portugal since May 31, 2019.
Graduated in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Rajshahi, in Bangladesh, Moon carries out his research work -“Discovery of new antibiotics”- at the Institute for Research in Medicine (iMed.ULisboa) of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon. (FFULisboa).
According to Zohorul Moon, the process currently takes longer. It took his wife almost two years to get a visa and move to Portugal in October.
Moon, who is also president of the Bangladesh Student Community in Portugal, estimates that, in one year, more than 300 students, 500 workers and 1,000 family reunification processes were affected by the delay in the processes.
“Of these, only the processes for families are obtaining visas after a year of waiting, after submitting the application,” he stressed.
The Embassy of Portugal in India receives visa applications through the specialized company VFS Global. In the case of the citizens of Bangladesh, they will have to personally travel to the capital of India for an interview.
These companies accept, in exchange for a service fee, requests for treatment to obtain a national visa for Portugal, the decision of which is always up to the Portuguese State, through the embassies. The service fee does not involve scheduling an appointment.
However, Zohorul Moon explained to Lusa that she is aware that this company’s website does not have any openings for appointments, but that the problem can be solved with “hidden payments” to buy an opening.
One of the Bengalis who resorted to this solution revealed to Lusa, on condition of anonymity, that he did it in 2020 to be able to reunite his family in Portugal.
“I was unable to book an appointment through VFS to New Delhi despite many attempts. Then I saw a post on Facebook offering help in getting an appointment. I contacted the author of the post and got it within a day. I had to pay 120 euros”, highlighted this Bengali, who is over 40 years old and has been in Portugal since 2018, but who preferred not to be identified.
Currently, this purchase of vacancies is more expensive, added the Bengali immigrant, who works in a factory and lives in the Lisbon region, who assured that he knows three or four people who are engaged in this type of business and that one of them has an office in Lisbon.
A source from the Bangladeshi community in Lisbon confirmed to Lusa that he was aware of several cases of immigrants being demanded sums of money to have an appointment at the company that processes the visas.
The same source explained that it is difficult to specify the exact number of immigrants affected, but estimated that 700 were forced into this type of practice when they were looking for appointments to obtain a visa and move to Portugal.
The total number of Bengalis in Portugal is about 2,000, he added. Contacted by Lusa, VFS Global said appointments for visa applications are available ‘online’ on a first-come, first-served basis, “in accordance with the guidelines of client governments.”
“We do not charge any additional fees for scheduling appointments. As a responsible service provider, we do our best to inform applicants to beware of fraudulent third parties charging clients fees for scheduling appointments, using the VFS Global name or otherwise independent,” he emphasized. VFS Global, adding that it does not comment on individual cases.
This company also stressed, in the written response, that “decisions on visa applications, including the availability of times and deadlines to process them, are at the sole discretion of the respective client governments and may vary from one mission to another.”
An official source from the Embassy of Bangladesh in Lisbon did not respond to Lusa’s request to comment on these allegations, but added that it has already tried to sensitize the Portuguese government about the need to create a diplomatic representation in the country in South Asia or a VFS Agency, to avoid restrictions on its citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained to Lusa that Portugal does not have diplomatic representation in Bangladesh and that the visas are provided by the Portuguese Embassy in New Delhi, India, adding that it is not aware of the ‘forced’ payments denounced by the Bengalis.
However, the cabinet of the ministry headed by João Gomes Cravinho added that the Portuguese government is considering “the opening of a consular office in Dhaka [capital do Bangladesh]taking into account the bilateral relations with Bangladesh and the resident Bengali community” in Portugal.
Official information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) of Portugal establishes that the use of these certified companies is intended to guarantee “a closer service to visa applicants”.
Currently, the information provided by the MNE (Diplomatic Portal) website indicates that Portugal has contracted these services in 21 countries, which translates into a territorial coverage of 77 cities.
Lusa discovered that in 18 of these 21 countries, the company that handles these visa applications is VFS Global, which operates in 144 countries through 3,395 centers, with 66 government clients.
Source: TSF
