Moroccan Workers Protest Visa Delays at Portuguese Embassy in Rabat

Dozens of young Moroccans are unhappy with the officials of the Portuguese embassy in Rabat due to the accumulated delay in the issuance of work visas. One of them is named Nabil, an electrician from Kenitra. Although he received a job offer from a Portuguese employer and was able to gather all the necessary documents and submit his visa application in June 2024, he has not received any response so far.

"The legal response time is three months, four at most, and it has been exceeded. Yet we are still waiting for a response to our application, whether positive or negative, it is our right," laments Nabil, an electrician from Kenitra on the Hespress site. A situation he is taking very badly. "With each passing week, the psychological suffering of the people concerned increases and they are deprived of other employment opportunities they encounter, and even the possibility of traveling, because their passports are still blocked."

According to him, he has sent several emails to the Portuguese embassy in Rabat to find out the status of his application, but "it has not responded to these messages." "The employers themselves contact it, but they do not receive any response," he adds. The problem is real. The people concerned "have provided all the required documents and the companies for which they wish to work are all reliable and in order in Portugal. [...] The employers have intervened and send many emails to the embassy and contact it regularly, but they do not receive any response, just like the people concerned," laments Hajji.

This young man from Casablanca working in the construction sector has obtained a work contract from a Portuguese employer, and applied for a visa since last August, but he has still not joined Portugal. His passport and those of other people who have landed a job in Portugal are blocked. "The blocking of the passports of at least 160 Moroccans has considerably disrupted their travel plans, and some of them receive other job offers that they are forced to refuse," he specifies.

Faced with the situation, the applicants for work visas for Portugal have decided to organize a sit-in in front of the embassy headquarters in Rabat to demand explanations from it on the accumulated delay in the issuance of the precious visa.