It was actually only a month ago that the government launched its Remote Service Platform, a portal allowing citizens to perform, through videoconferencing, authentic acts that have the same legal value as in-person acts. This service allows, for example, divorce proceedings, the purchase and sale of real estate, and the certification of heirs, explain reports. The whole idea was that it would ‘save time’/ simplify people’s lives. But according to Rui Rodrigues, president of the national notaries syndicate, what has actually happened is a service that currently takes “around 15 minutes, or half an hour”, can now take professionals in the sector between two and three hours to perform. In his opinion, the whole exercise has just been “more propaganda”. This puts a new shine on the claims that ‘nationality requests’ should be able to be processed remotely by the end of the year…
