The Consulate General of Portugal in Macau and Hong Kong has announced it is temporarily increasing its workforce to help renew a major backlog of expired Portuguese citizenship cards and passports.
The staffing boost means more appointment slots will be available between 6 May and 31 July, the consulate explained via social media. Instead of 800 slots per week, there will be 1,100.
“Take the opportunity to renew your Portuguese identity or travel documents if they are expired or, in the case of passports, [have] less than 8 months of validity [remaining],” the post read.
[See more: The Portuguese ‘still play a role’ in preserving Macao’s identity, study finds]
Slots can be booked a month in advance, via the consulate’s webpage.
This is the second time the consulate has increased the number of weekly appointments it offers. Last year, it went from 500 to 800 slots per week.
For the past year, staff shortages at the consulate have resulted in delays of more than six months, bedevilling those wanting to renew Portuguese citizenship cards and passports (a process that takes just five days in Portugal). A backlog of requests that built up during the three-year Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation.
