View Vacancy - Consular Officer (PRT22.196)

The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer.  We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Consular

Main purpose of job

To provide high quality, professional and efficient consular services to visiting and resident British nationals in Portugal and Cape Verde.  To be a fully engaged and proactive member of both the consular and wider Embassy teams.

Roles and responsibilities:

  • To provide consular support and assistance in person at the Consulate and by telephone to British nationals in cases of hospitalisations, mental health, deaths, victims of crime, financial assistance, welfare and detention.  To take part in the National Duty Officer roster.
  • To work in conjunction with colleagues at the ETD Centre to facilitate the issue, printing and collection of ETDs.  To act as working stock custodian of ETD booklets, laminates and EPs.
  • To respond to general email enquiries and assess applications for notarial services, preparing declarations and taking customer declarations, as necessary.
  • To undertake administrative tasks as required, such as implementing fee changes, updating consular information leaflets, keeping physical and virtual consular noticeboards up-to-date, ordering stationery, assisting with the weeding of files/electronic folders in accordance with data protection.
  • To build and maintain relationships at appropriate levels with local authorities, such as the police, prison, court, social services, hospitals. To liaise and collaborate with such local authorities, as and when necessary in order to assist British nationals.
  • To help prepare for crisis handling and understand how to implement the Crisis Management Plan, as and when activated.   To liaise with authorities over high profile events, such as concerts/sporting events that attract high numbers of BNs.
  • To participate in wider Embassy working groups in co-operation with colleagues from other departments, and contribute, where appropriate, to non-consular specific tasks if required.

Proficient in MS Office

Language requirements:

English and Portuguese

Level of language required:  English Proficiency (C1/C2) and Portuguese Upper Intermediate (B2/C1)

Customer service experience
Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together
17 May 2022
Administrative Officer (AO)
Fixed Term
6 months
Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Portugal
Lisbon
British Embassy
1
EUR
1.527,12 Eur
1 July 2022

Learning and development opportunities: 

Mandatory online training in such subjects as data protection, safeguarding, unconscious bias, will need to be completed during the induction stage, together with specific training in the use of the various consular platforms and systems. 

The British Embassy in Lisbon aims to offer an attractive working environment and remuneration package for this role of € 21,379.68 gross annual salary paid in fourteen instalments; plus a monthly meal allowance of €134.00. This salary is payable if the successful candidate is subject to individual income tax (IRS) in Portugal on the employment income in question. If the successful candidate is not subject to individual income tax (IRS) on their employment income in Portugal, and/or is not taxable elsewhere on such income, he / she will receive the above salary minus a reference amount approximate to the level of Portuguese tax that would be applicable if the income were subject to tax locally. Further information on this will be given to candidates during the recruitment process.

All staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Portugal are subject to local Portuguese employment law as well as internal regulations in force at any given time.

The successful candidate will be subject to a professional background and security clearance and must have pre-existing work authorisation for Portugal in order to apply.

All applicants should have the right to live and work in Portugal. The British Embassy does not sponsor work permits.

The Embassy will not consider applications from existing staff who have not successfully completed their probation period or, in the case of staff on temporary contract who have not yet completed two thirds of their contract.

Visa / Passport requirements:

Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Portugal and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract. Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure you meet the legal requirements to live and work in this country.

On-going training will be provided on handling specific case types and the soft skills needed to deal with distressed customers.

It is important to note that the consular caseworker role is very demanding and will entail dealing with casework in situations that may involve death, detention, rape and sexual assault and prison visits. You will be required to deal face to face with highly distressed customers who may be in shock, grieving and in a crisis situation. Candidates should therefore have a high level of resilience to trauma.

Please note, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment indicates Level C1 as Mastery or proficiency Level which comprehends that a person can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations. For more information please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your languages skills are going to be assessed.

Please be advised that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

Information due to COVID-19:

  • You may experience some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign and we are working hard to minimise any disruption;
  • Interviews will be done remotely if the existing situation determines this to be the right course of action;
  • Starting date may be delayed depending on circumstances at the time and it will be agreed with the selected candidate.
Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.

This opportunity is closed to applications.