“Portugal welcomes everybody, including foreigners staying in the Kingdom, without any discrimination,” said Portugal’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Manuel Carvalho while inaugurating his country’s visa section on Tuesday at the Unified Visa Applications Center. Portugal is set to join with 14 other foreign countries which are already under the VFS Global visa processing cooperation system.

Pointing out that his country received 15 million visitors last year, the ambassador noted that the new hassle-free system for issuing visas is bound to increase the number of visitors to Portugal, not only for tourism but for business as well.

He told Arab News that with the increasing demand for visas for Portugal by Saudis, “we have to meet the requirements and expectations of all people through a smooth visa process. As such, we have outsourced the visa application process to VFS Global.”

He added: “People who want to apply for Schengen visas to Portugal can now do this at the center managed by VFS Global in Riyadh.”