The difficulty in finding professionals in the United States and Europe started an unusual movement among multinational companies: the export of Brazilian workers to make up for the lack of labor even on the factory floor in other countries.
This type of migration is restricted, as most nations have laws to defend the internal labor market and impose strict and onerous measures for this type of transit. The pandemic makes the process even more complex.
A confluence of factors, however, has left millions of vacancies open in developed countries, especially in the USA. The workforce is aging, young people are dissatisfied with the current working conditions and some countries are experiencing a boom in new jobs with the reopening of trade and the return of services that were suspended during the most critical period of the pandemic.
In the US, the number of open positions reached 11 million at the end of October, according to the US Department of Labor. There is a lack of workers for industries, logistics and health companies, as well as establishments such as supermarkets and food chains, restaurants, hotels and stores in the most diverse segments of retail.
Canada and European countries even relax the rules to meet the shortage of professionals.
The US neighbor announced plans in 2020 to receive more than 1.2 million immigrants to work in the country by 2023. Germany passed a new labor law for immigrants that speeds up the process of obtaining visas for qualified professionals, and countries how Greece began to allow foreigners with student visas to work in the territory.
The lack of labor in Europe occurs especially in the construction and services sectors. The Vila Galé hotel chain, based in Lisbon, for example, is preparing to reinforce the exchange of employees from Brazil, where it has operated since 2001, to Portugal. The migration is scheduled to take place between March and October 2022, according to the group’s administrator, Gonçalo Rebelo de Almeida.
In the US, a similar measure is being adopted by NitroquÃmica. Founded in 1935 in São Miguel Paulista (SP), the nitrocellulose producer group opened the plant in Georgia (USA) in 2016. The local branch, under the name Alchemix, already received employees from the headquarters for executive functions, but the shortage crisis of labor changed the profile of those sent.
“The scenario has changed drastically. If before we brought an executive a year, with a profile of accelerated growth in managerial tasks, now we are in need of employees in operational activities. The labor supply is extremely low, and demand and salaries are high. It’s a snowball,” says Fernando Matheus, general manager of the company’s US operations.
As of January, the company will start taking factory operators, with experience at the Brazilian plant, to work in the country. There will be four professionals in the first wave, and the reception of employees to the internal selection has been positive.
“The professionals are super willing to come, because they consider it a very attractive country”, says the manager. “Here, managers are racking their brains to find manpower to work with. Who has it and can transfer it.”
Tigre, a maker of plastics for construction materials, from Santa Catarina, adopted a similar strategy. The group doubled the size of its American operation with the purchase, in April, of Dura Plastic, which makes PVC connections for irrigation and drainage.
According to Patricia Bobbato, director of people, internal communication and sustainability, the company is now among the five largest in the segment in the US and needed to open up opportunities for professionals allocated in Brazil to work in the country.
During the health crisis, the country’s consulates in Brazil suspended the issuance of visas and prioritized emergency situations. In the second half of this year, the processes regained momentum.
In October 2019, 1,072 Brazilians were allowed to work temporarily in the US. The number even dropped to 134 in January 2021 and, in the last month of October, 624 Brazilians received authorization.
The triggers for the resumption are the authorizations for transfer visas for professionals from the same company, which totaled 497 in October.
The transfer numbers are modest, but stand out when considering the sanitary protocols for transit between countries during the pandemic, as well as the costs and time required in this type of process.
To transfer an employee to live and work in the US, the company must formally sponsor the trip, bearing the migration costs. The process takes around 120 days and may suffer restrictions imposed by the pandemic.
The visa category that includes these migrants prohibits the employee himself from bearing the costs of the process. The company must also prove to the US government that it tried, without success, to hire American professionals for the position.
The rules are intended to inhibit immigrants from “buying” jobs in local companies and protect the US workforce from foreign competition, says Ingrid Perez, a migration lawyer who works in an office in Florida, where most Brazilian multinational companies are concentrated. its American operations.
“Even with the difficulty of filling vacancies, immigration laws remain the same and do not make it easier for employers who want to hire,” he says.
According to the lawyer, a company in the US that wishes to import an employee into the country should expect to spend from US$ 8,000 (R$ 44,700), including process costs and fees to the US government for issuing the EB-3 visa. , which allows the entry of professionals who carry out activities for which there is a lack of qualified workers in the country.
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