Opinion – Rodrigo Tavares: Portugal needs immigrants, but there are obstacles to integration

From any statistical, tax, administrative and legalistic point of view, Portugal is a country open to immigrants. In 2021, for the sixth consecutive year, there was an increase in the resident foreign population, totaling almost 700 thousand people – a value never before achieved. The national songbook is full of hospitality troubadours.

Compared to previous waves of immigration, differences in the origin of immigrants (from Portuguese-speaking to French-speaking, English-speaking or Germanic) and in their economic power (from low income to a high net worth profile) also stand out. With one of the oldest population in the world, Portugal is offered a rare opportunity to alleviate the serious demographic crisis and the shortage of skilled labor.

But for the new wave of immigrants to remain in Portugal, it will take more than handing out cards or certificates. The previous wave of Brazilians in the 1990s and of Ukrainians in the 2000s was not taken advantage of. Most returned to their home countries.

Portugal continues to be very Portuguese. The relationship between the Portuguese and immigrants points to the persistence of a Lusotropicalizing mysticism woven through the common language. Used to receiving mainly immigrants from the former colonies, the reception serves to ratify the universalist experience of the Portuguese and the exceptionalism of their presence in the world.

Each immigrant who arrives reinforces a Portuguese national identity that selectively feeds on a certain global heroism and a penchant for miscegenation. But the new wave of immigrants – more qualified, globalized and speaking English, among other languages ​​– hardly appropriates the Portuguese-speaking culture and is not even integrated by it. It ends up being limited to cloistered medium-term experiences. They are not seen, much less seen as a solution to the country’s demographic problems.

The new profile of Brazilian immigration also does not fit the post-imperial conception of immigration. They are high-income people, intellectuals, graduate students, or an entrepreneurial and creative middle class who do not recognize Portugal as a source of civilization, nor are they apathetic when subjected to mechanisms of hierarchy or social antagonization. The inclusion experience of this community is thus limited.

Most live in pockets of Brazilianness, recreating practices of origin, while frustrated by the difficulties in reaching the spaces of power, privilege or profit protected by Portuguese traditionalism. Due to lack of internal or external stimulus, many qualified Brazilians do not work in Portugal but abroad, from Portugal. In a recent report by Público newspaper, some of the new Brazilians in Portugal prefer to be seen as “foreign residents” rather than “immigrants”. In total, there are 250-400 thousand Brazilians currently living in Portugal.

Despite the identity performativity, in which Portugal sees itself as an intercultural nation, it continues to be difficult for immigrants to enter the circles of power. All 230 deputies were born in Portugal or in colonies still under Portuguese administration (in Sweden 13% of deputies have foreign ancestry, while in the United Kingdom it is 7%), in the government there are no ministers born in a foreign country (as there are in Sweden, Holland or France) and in the lists of the most influential Portuguese in their areas, published annually in the press, there are no descendants of foreigners.

Brazilian immigration to Portugal is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. If Bolsonaro is reelected, a new vacancy will possibly erupt. But for this new morphology of immigrants, from all over the world, to remain in Portugal, the country needs to integrate and not just welcome.

Naturally, the narrative cannot go to the opposite extreme. Portugal is not a nation built by immigrants like Brazil, Canada, Australia or the USA. But the continuous increase in the foreign population, which is expected to reach 10% of the total population in the next few years, may force Portugal to reflect on the country it is and the country it would like to be.