Portugal Visa for South Africans

Yes. South Africa is on the list of countries whose nationals must hold a visa to enter the Schengen area, so on an ordinary passport you arrange a Portuguese Schengen visa before you travel. The application centre's rules also state that people who hold both a South African and an EU passport are not allowed to apply for a visa. Tell us which passport you will travel on and we will confirm what your trip needs.

Through VFS Global, the application centre for the Consulates General of Portugal in Johannesburg and Cape Town, which has centres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. The Embassy of Portugal in Pretoria does not issue visas. Applications are submitted in person and by appointment, and residents of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape must apply at the Cape Town centre. Prestige Solutions is an independent company, so we prepare your application and book the appointment, and you hand it in yourself.

Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives a decision period of 15 calendar days from the date the application is accepted as admissible, which can be extended to a maximum of 45 calendar days in individual cases. The consulate determines processing, so tell us your travel date early and we will plan the application around it.

Yes. A uniform Schengen visa issued by Portugal is valid for short stays across the Schengen area, which the Ministry lists as 29 countries, within your 90 days in any 180-day period. Portugal must still be your main destination or, where the stays are of equal length, your first point of entry. Send us your itinerary and we will confirm that Portugal is the right country to apply through.

That calls for a national visa, which is a separate application from the Schengen visa. Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues temporary stay visas for stays of less than a year and residence visas for longer moves, with residence routes for subordinate (employed) work, independent work, highly qualified activity, remote work, study, retirement or passive income, and family reunification. A residence visa is valid for four months, and in that time its holder applies to the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA) for a residence permit. Portugal has replaced its job seeker visa with a skilled job seeker visa, and whether applications are open depends on the regulations in force when you apply. Tell us which route you are considering and we will arrange the police clearance certificate and apostille it calls for.

Not for a short visit. The Portuguese consulates' Schengen checklists for South Africa do not ask for one. For a residence or temporary stay visa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks applicants aged 16 or older for a criminal record certificate from their country of nationality, or from the country where they have lived for over a year. For both visas the application centre asks for a certificate no older than three months, and completed certificates commonly take one to six months from fingerprints to delivery, based on what our clients and enquirers report, so timing matters. Our police clearance service handles the SAPS certificate end to end.

For a long-stay visa, the criminal record certificate does. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks for it with the Hague Apostille or legalised, and South Africa and Portugal are both party to the Apostille Convention, so a SAPS police clearance certificate takes an apostille from DIRCO, which accepts only original certificates no older than six months. The consulates' checklists for a short-stay Schengen visa generally do not call for apostilled documents. Our attestation and apostille service handles the DIRCO step, and our guide to what an apostille is explains it.

The Schengen visa fee, the VFS Global service charge, any optional extras you choose and our service fee. The visa fee is set in euros and collected in rand, and children under 12 pay a reduced fee or none. Neither the visa fee nor the VFS Global service charge is refunded if the visa is refused. We confirm the current figures upfront, before we start.

You are told why the application was refused and how to appeal. Portuguese law allows a complaint to the consulate or an appeal, each within a set time limit, and the application centre confirms that a new application can be made at any time. We can read the refusal with you and help you prepare a new application that answers its reasons.