To address the problem of long queues for the renewal of Portuguese passports, the Portuguese Consulate for Macau and Hong Kong has taken several measures to reduce inappropriate usage that comes from hoarding of the bookings by external agents, the Portuguese Consul-General, Ambassador Alexandre Leitão said in a written response to a Times inquiry.
Leitão noted that several “technical changes are being introduced in the scheduling system to reduce possible inappropriate uses,” noting the so-called hoarding of bookings by external agents.
The same official noted that several of these measures have already been introduced, aiming to reinforce the response of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs services, and also stated that the measures, will, “in the short term, improve, even further, the service provided.”
In the same response, Leitão clarified that contrary to what has been stated by external sources to the consulate services, “no appointments have yet been scheduled for the month of December, due to an ongoing change in procedures related to the swapping of the booking platform.” Such change comes also in combination with the entry into force of a new online service named “Virtual Consulate”.
To the Times, Leitão added that the launching of the first phase of the Virtual Consulate platform will allow users to access a range of consular services remotely, without the need for an appointment or travel.
Under these new arrangements and in collaboration with other government departments, the online renewal of the Citizen Card (Cartão do Cidadão) will be available firstly to those over 25 years old. Other services that will be available at the same time are the birth registration of minors aged over 1 year (with at least one Portuguese national parent) and the online birth registration and application for a citizen’s card for children under 1 year of age.
High demand forces appointment slots to be available in stages
According to the Portuguese Consul-General, currently, the appointment time slots are becoming available in stages to assist applicants for Citizen Cards or Passports, adding, that to face the high demand, the consulate has already increased the number of daily slots by 30% since last March 1.
“The number of daily time slots for [this] service has increased by 30% since March 1; this is thanks to internal measures to increase productivity and the efforts of the consulate’s workers,” Leitão remarked, explaining that 2023 has been, so far, a year of great demand in which were recorded in just the first five months of the year (January to May) “more than double the applications registered in 2019 [pre-pandemic].”
The consul-general also noted that as it has been publically advertised by the consulate through notices on the consulate’s webpage, “if it is not possible to make a short-term appointment on the system, users have the alternative, in cases that require immediate resolution, of submitting their requests through the email address info.macau@mne.pt.” This method can be used for all particularly urgent situations and has handled more than 300 urgent cases in the past three months.
“This is why we maintain the guarantee [stated previously] that no Portuguese citizen who has a serious problem will fail to be attended to in a timely manner,” Leitão reaffirmed, adding that for all other services, including civil registration, notary procedures and visas, among others, all the appointments bookings are taking place in a more expedited period and without difficulties.
The notice published some time ago on the consulate’s page, informs those who have urgent need to renew their passports to email the consulate explaining the reason for the urgency and attaching proof of the situation, such as flight reservations, for evaluation from the services, and organization of an appointment time slot suitable for each case.
