“We cannot afford to fail. There will be no excuses for non-compliance, not even the lack of public administration workers, which must be adequately staffed by this date,” Álvaro Mendonça e Moura declared while speaking on behalf of the five business confederations that signed the protocol.
The president of CAP applauded the agreement’s unequivocal definition of goals, procedural flows, and obligations of the parties involved, stating that this “represents a turning point compared to what has not worked well so far.”
According to the protocol, visas are to be issued within 20 days from the applicant’s appointment at the consular post, provided that the legal requirements are met, including having an employment contract, health insurance, and travel insurance, among others.
An earlier version of the document allowed for business associations with a turnover of 250 million euros or more to join the protocol, but this amount was reduced to 200 million euros in the agreement signed today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lisbon.
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