Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that, from 17 April 2026, Brazilian nationals will no longer be allowed to courier visa documents to Portuguese consulates. All applicants for both Schengen short-stay visas and national long-stay visas must appear in person at one of nine VFS Global centres or at a Portuguese embassy/consulate in Brazil. The postal channel was introduced during the pandemic and quickly became popular: about 40 % of the 105,000 Brazilian visa requests lodged in 2025 arrived by courier. Consular officials say the system also created headaches—more than 30 % of mailed files were incomplete, forcing back-and-forth requests for missing pages and lengthening processing times. Re-introducing face-to-face filing allows staff to scan originals, collect biometrics and cut down on fraud discovered in remote submissions. For Brazilian corporates that routinely deploy staff to Portugal—particularly in IT services, agribusiness and energy—the rule change adds cost and complexity. Human-resources managers will need to budget for domestic flights to São Paulo, Rio or Brasília, where premium appointment slots are already sold out six weeks ahead. Relocation firms advise grouping travelling employees into the same appointment window, paying fees online to lock in slots and arriving with fully collated originals plus copies to avoid being rescheduled. Analysts expect knock-on effects across Schengen. Spain and Italy, the other two big visa destinations for Brazilians, already require in-person filing; if Portugal’s tighter controls significantly reduce fraud, other consulates could follow suit. Applicants who hold dual EU-Brazilian nationality or who visit Europe for up to 90 days visa-free remain unaffected, but anyone seeking study, work or family-re-unification permits must now plan around the new intake model. Flight consolidators warn that missed visa start dates can delay project kick-offs by weeks. Companies are therefore urged to begin document prep at least 60 days before projected travel and to monitor VFS availability daily—slots are published at midnight Brasília time and disappear within minutes.
Source: VisaVerge
