“We have an agreement that has been ratified by all member states and, naturally, Portugal will know how to honour it,” said Zacarias da Costa, Executive Secretary of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), on Saturday, 28, in response to Portugal’s recently announced changes to its Foreigners Law.
Referring to the new requirement announced by the Portuguese government — that residence permits for CPLP nationals must always be preceded by consular visas in their countries of origin — Zacarias da Costa declined to go into detail, stating:
“We have an agreement that is ratified by all member states, and naturally, Portugal will honour it. As for the details, I will not comment.”
He also emphasised that he does not comment on decisions made by individual member states.
Zacarias da Costa was speaking to journalists in Dili, where he is attending the 4th Conference of Luso-Asian Communities, taking place in the Timorese capital until Sunday.
According to Lusa, the Portuguese government announced on Monday that it will tighten visa rules for CPLP citizens, requiring prior consular visas for residence applications — a shift from current practices in some cases.
Source: Forbes África Lusófona
