Cape Verdeans buy a seat in the European visa queue

Hundreds of Cape Verdeans have been occupying the center of Mindelo since Sunday afternoon and night, looking for a job among the 350 people opened by the Common Visa Application Center (CCV) so they can travel to Europe, even buying places in line.

Zenny Diaz wants a visa for a holiday trip to Portugal and arrived on Sunday to apply for a position at the permanent consulate that the CCV, based in Praia on the island of Santiago, occupies in Mindelo, the country’s second largest city, in the north of the archipelago.

He ended up with a password of 310 and later moved up in position: “I found someone who was selling a place in line, at position 205, and I bought it for 2000 escudos. [18 euros]”, he explained to Lucy.

The announcement of this CCV consular stay in Mindelo from June 26th to 30th, which is held monthly, but this time without pre-booking via the Internet and with an arrival-only schedule, up to 70 places per day, caused hundreds of people to save space on site to ask password, still during the Sunday afternoon, resorting to stones, chairs and everything that was useful to mark the position for several hours of waiting.

The huge demand for vacancies for European visas in Cape Verde, which takes place during a period of strong emigration of Cape Verdeans, namely to Portugal, even provoked the emergence of ticket intermediaries in the immediate vicinity, as is already happening in the usual schedule via the Internet . In high spirits, those who failed to make it into the top 350 in those first two days were targeted by CCV officers and the police stepped up their presence on the spot.

CCV, which processes requests and issues short-stay visas for the Schengen area at its facilities in Praia, administered since 2010 by Portugal on behalf of 19 European countries, regularly conducts consular stays in the islands of Sal, Boa Vista. and San Vicente to prevent users from traveling to the capital on Santiago Island.

In Sao Vicente, the second most important island, these consular stays, involving the movement of technical personnel and equipment, take place monthly, with the last one starting on Monday. However, this time, in order to stop the “accumulation” of vacancies by third parties, which are then illegally sold to users (the case is being investigated by the Cape Verdean prosecutor’s office), CCV did not open the online schedule, only for the first time. Come, in order.

“I wanted to spend my Christmas holidays in Portugal, but I was unable to get a visa and have been trying to book since then, but without access to the service provided by the “site”. I was pleased with this initiative because it brought more opportunities, but it confused the queuing process, ”admitted Zenny Diaz.

“Quinha” Pires, 75, who was born on the island of Fogo, asked his son to take a place in the queue for a visa to Europe. He arrived at 10:00 on Sunday, 24 hours before the start of this consular stay in Mindelo, and received the password 25.

“I am going to Europe for the third time, as I first pass through Portugal and then visit my children in France,” the pensioner explained, although she regrets that she did not get a visa earlier and thus missed the wedding of one of her children. .

Joana Teixeira came for her passport after two months of waiting for a visa. She said that her husband, with whom she is going to travel, managed to schedule a request via the Internet, which was more convenient than the long queues she found in front of the San Vicente Municipal Assembly building, where these consular offices operate.

“My husband managed to schedule his online visa at dawn, it was the easiest time to get a place, we sent the documents and now I’m here to collect my passports. We are going on holiday to Portugal to visit our son, who went there to study, and we miss you,” said the Cape Verdean, acknowledging the “great added value” of these consular stays.