Facial recognition has become mandatory to schedule a visa application for Portugal at the VFS Glonal visa center in Luanda, the Portuguese consulate general in Luanda has announced.
The procedure aims to prevent fraudulent strategies and hoarding of places to schedule visas on the online platform managed by VFS and is now mandatory for all applicants over 18 years of age.
“Any attempt to avoid facial recognition by indicating a false date of birth will result in the visa application being rejected,” warns the consulate.
The news comes after, in mid-February, the Portuguese government admitted that the platform used in Luanda for visa appointments was being illegitimately blocked by “hoarders” who capture vacancies using malicious software, as reported by Lusa.
Since last year, there have been increasing complaints about the inoperability of the VFS Global platform, through which visas are scheduled for Angolans who wish to travel to Portugal, forcing applicants to pay intermediaries to obtain a place.
The Portuguese Government points to high demand and “hoarding” as the main reasons for the difficulties in scheduling visa applications in Luanda, where 300 places are opened per day.
According to a note published on the consulate's website, to successfully schedule an appointment online, applicants must have their passports at hand and use the webcam on their laptop/desktop computer or the camera on their mobile phone.
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