Directions · Portugal
Portugal applications from the US go through the VFS Global centres in Washington DC, San Francisco and Miami. Appointments are released without notice and taken within minutes — we watch the calendar so you do not have to refresh it.
Open for requestsNew direction · monitoring starts on your request
We have not published monitoring figures for this route — so instead of numbers, here is what is officially documented.
What we can tell you about this route
Monitoring on this route starts when you place a request. We will not quote you odds we have not measured.
The same visa, the same fee — the difference is which building you attend, and how the calendar there has actually behaved.
| Centre | Calendar checks | Openings | Last opening |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington DC | not watched yet | — | — |
| San Francisco | not watched yet | — | — |
| Miami | not watched yet | — | — |
The categories VFS Global accepts on this route. They are the same at every centre listed above.
| Visa type | Processing |
|---|---|
| Schengen Visa (Short Stay Visa) | NOTICE The visa processing time is a minimum of 3 weeks,… |
| EEA/EU FAMILY MEMBER | 30 days |
| National Visa | 60 days |
| Job Seeker Visa | 60 days |
| Student Visa | 30 days |
As published by VFS Global. The fee depends on category, age and nationality, so the tables are reproduced rather than reduced to a single figure. The application centre charges its own service fee on top.
| VAC Location > | Washington DC- New York – San Francisco | |
|---|---|---|
| VISA: | VISA FEES EFFECTIVE 01 April 2026 (IN LOCAL CURRENCY) | |
| EUR | USD | |
| Schengen visa application | € 90.65 | $104.00 |
| Schengen visa children's fee (6 to 12 years old) | € 45.32 | $52.00 |
| Schengen visa, low tariff: visa facilitation for citizens of ALBANIA, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO, MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE* | € 35.00 | $40.44 |
We have not measured this route yet, so we will not quote you a number - the figures on our other pages are recorded, and inventing one here would make all of them worthless. What this route does have is 3 centres - Washington DC, San Francisco and Miami - each with its own calendar, and 5 visa categories to choose between, with a published processing time of NOTICE The visa processing time is a minimum of 3 weeks,…. The pattern everywhere we do measure is the same: appointments appear without notice, in batches, and are gone within minutes. Monitoring here starts when you place a request, and nothing is owed until one is booked.
Any of them. VFS Global publishes the same visa categories, the same fees and the same processing times for all of them on this route, so the only real difference is travel time on the day. We watch every centre listed above and take whichever opens first, unless you tell us one is out of the question - which is worth saying if you would not fly across the country for an appointment.
VFS Global publishes this for the route: NOTICE The visa processing time is a minimum of 3 weeks, depending on the nationality of the applicant of the applicant and provided that a complete visa application is submitted; please click here for the list of nationalities that may have an extended processing time. That clock starts at your appointment, not at your request to us - which is exactly why the appointment date is the part worth fighting for. An appointment six weeks out pushes the decision six weeks out with it.
Two separate things. The consular fee and the centre's service charge go to VFS Global and the consulate on the day - the published fee tables are above, and the amount depends on category, age and nationality. Our own fee is separate, quoted per request, and charged only after an appointment is booked and confirmed. If nothing opens, you owe nothing. Booking through the official system is free; what you are paying us for is the watching and the paperwork.
No password, and the verification code stays with you. VFS now sends a one-time code at the confirmation step, and you are the one who reads it out at that moment - it takes a few seconds and it means nobody is acting as you behind your back. Any service asking you to hand over an account password on a web form should worry you, whoever it is.
No, and anyone who does is selling you something they do not control. The consulate decides how many appointments exist and when they appear; we control only how fast they are noticed and taken. What we can promise is the shape of the deal: we watch, and you pay if and only if an appointment ends up booked in your name.
Refreshing the booking page dozens of times an hour is what triggers the "unusual activity" and "permission issue" errors people run into - we have documented what each of those codes actually means. We work within what the account can take, which is the whole point of doing it with tooling instead of by hand at 3am. Your application is submitted through the official system like anyone else's.
Longer answers to the questions behind these: what an empty calendar means, when appointments actually open, and where you are allowed to apply.
The same country of application, a different destination — or the same visa, applied for from somewhere else.
We watch these calendars continuously and book the moment an appointment opens. You pay after the booking is confirmed — if nothing opens, there is nothing to pay. We never ask for your VFS password, and the code from your email stays with you.