The reopening of the borders between Portugal and Brazil, in September, after a year and a half of restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, has stimulated a new wave of immigration to the European country.
Entities that help immigrants in Portuguese territory report a greater arrival of Brazilians and seek information about the migration process. They also say that the number of Brazilians seeking help to return to their homeland has dropped.
The reasons for this, given by Brazilians recently arrived in Portugal interviewed by BBC News Brasil, include the escalation of the crisis in Brazil, a desire to improve their quality of life and familiarity with the language.
In addition, the country has national legislation favorable to immigration. Unlike most other European nations, Portugal allows the regularization with relative ease of those who arrive as tourists (ie, without a visa), but decide to live and work in its territory.
It was with this possibility in mind that nursing assistant Uelber Oliveira, 33, prepared to live in the country. In Lisbon for about three months, he arrived without a visa to look for a job and settle in the city.
“It is increasingly difficult to live, and to live with quality, in Brazil. Our fight is no longer to have a good car, a good house. The problem now is to have the basics, to be able to eat,” he says. he is from Ilhéus (BA).
In the Portuguese capital, he got a job and awaited the arrival of his wife, whose trip was scheduled for two months after his. Currently, the two work as caregivers for the elderly in the city, and have already started the process to regularize their migratory status.
“I realized that in Portugal we will have security, and, even though I earn little, a lot of quality of life — and I’ll still be able to send some money to Brazil”, he says.
The current migration movement of Brazilians to Portugal began in 2014, when economic conditions in Brazil worsened again, but intensified from 2017 onwards. 2020.
“And then the pandemic came and the borders closed. But people only suspended their migration processes during this period,” says Cyntia de Paula, president of the Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, an organization that helps immigrants in the country. “When the gates opened, people went back to looking for Portugal in full force.”
This is the case of Maicon (who did not want to have his last name divulged in the article), who began planning to move to Portugal in 2019. Married and with two children, he worked for ten years in civil construction in Brazil, but lost ground in the area and, two years ago, started working as a trailer driver.
“I always struggled to have comfort in Brazil for myself and my children. I worked a lot and things didn’t progress, I couldn’t meet my family’s basic needs”, he says.
Installed in the region of Aveiro, in Central Portugal, he got a job as a locksmith assistant and has also started the process of regularizing his situation. Now, he awaits the arrival of his wife and children, scheduled for January.
“I didn’t come to get rich, but to offer my children a better quality of life and achieve some financial stability,” he says.
“In the beginning it’s real trouble, but it’s paying off. Here, food is cheap, leisure is cheap. In Brazil, I was depriving myself of eating meat with a good salary. Here I’m already sick of eating rump steak.”
MISCELLANEOUS PROFILES
Today, approximately 214,500 Brazilian citizens reside in Portugal, according to November figures from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). The data, however, excludes those in an irregular situation and those who also hold Portuguese citizenship or those of another European country.
Immigrants in the country have different profiles, says Cyntia de Paula. “We have an immigration not only for unskilled work, but also for many professionals with a qualified profile, not only in terms of education, but also with many years of experience. These did not come so much before, and now they do.”
In addition, according to her, there is a record of the arrival of many families and a regular flow of Brazilian students to Portugal.
São Paulo lawyer Beatriz Menezes, 28, is part of this last group. After a bad professional experience, she decided to take some projects off the paper and started researching study opportunities in Portugal.
“In my mind, studying in Europe was something unthinkable from a financial point of view. But I met someone who was taking the course I am currently taking here, a Master’s in Administrative Law at the University of Lisbon, and I discovered that it wasn’t quite like that. or less the same thing studying here or at a good college in Brazil”, he says.
She arrived in Portugal in October, after postponing plans for a few months due to the pandemic. But he is already thinking about the possibility of extending his stay in the country after completing the course, which lasts for two years.
“I was enchanted by Lisbon, and I’m sure that all this impact of the pandemic and an inefficient government will last in Brazil. This makes me consider staying here,” he says.
That’s what the 38-year-old publicist from São Paulo did. He arrived in the country in the second half of 2019 to stay for one year, while studying a postgraduate degree in Communication of Culture and Creative Industries, at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
In the months following the completion of the course, with the visa expired, he decided to file an expression of interest to become regularized in the country. “I started the process in September of last year, with the expectation that it would last eight months. Currently, I have been waiting for a year and two months,” he says.
With the regularization in progress, he was faced with two possibilities: to remain in Portugal in an irregular situation or to return to Brazil and run the risk of losing the process. He opted for the second.
Over the months, he decided to return to Portugal and started looking for a job in the country from a distance. “I found this company that takes care of international mobility and started working for them in August, still from Brazil”, says he, who, with the contract in hand, returned to Lisbon in October.
“I had this experience first as a student, then I understood that it would be a promising market for Communication and Technology, because many Portuguese left the country. I like the fact that Portugal is a small country, and that Lisbon offers capital services in a city the size of Sorocaba. I do a lot on foot, I’m close to nature. And just having security is a huge gain.”
REGULARIZATION AND PROBLEMS
Those who live legally in national territory for five years are entitled to apply for naturalization, obtaining Portuguese citizenship. This period only starts to run, however, from the moment the immigrant obtains his residence permit — that is, when he starts to be in a regular situation.
Articles 88 and 89 of the Foreigners’ Law allow those without a visa in Portugal, or with an expired visa, to become regularized in the country, through an employment contract or as service providers.
For this, they must file online, present a series of documents, have a tax registration number and be contributing to Social Security. This process, however, can take years to complete.
“As there is the possibility of regularization in the national territory, many people opt for this strategy. But during this process, which can take up to four years, these people face a lot of instability”, says Cyntia de Paula.
“Immigrants in an irregular situation face practical difficulties and are at greater risk of labor exploitation, working in conditions outside legality. They also run the risk of expulsion and of not being able to return to the country for a few years”, says Vasco Malta, head of the mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Portugal.
Cyntia reports that, during the pandemic, many immigrants lost their jobs. Without a contract or access to government aid programs, they were left without income overnight.
Furthermore, despite the government’s emergency measure that temporarily regularized all immigrants in the country, in order to guarantee their access to the National Health System, many faced difficulties in vaccinating themselves against Covid-19.
The IOM provides support to immigrants who want to return to their country of origin, but are unable to do so due to lack of resources, through the Support Program for Voluntary Return and Reintegration (ARVoRe). The vast majority of those served are Brazilian, and the percentage reached 97.9% in 2020.
In 2021, however, the participation of Brazilian citizens in the total dropped to 83%, considering data up to October.
According to the head of the mission, although there is no data to explain the reduction, it would be linked to the negative evolution of the pandemic in Brazil, in addition to an improvement in the economic scenario and in the employment market in Portugal during the European summer months (de June to September). He also mentions the continuity of the regularization processes by the SEF.
Malta states that it is essential that Brazilians seek entry into Portugal on a regular basis and plan ahead of their trip.
“Planning is absolutely essential, people need to know what they will find, even to manage expectations. The cost of living in Lisbon and Porto remains very high, as does the rental price [aluguel]. The raw material crisis also impacts people’s cost of living,” he says.
The high price of rents, especially in large cities, is a recurrent complaint among Brazilian immigrants in the country, as well as the difficulties related to Portuguese people’s prejudice towards the group and the Brazilian accent.
“Due to various stereotypes related to the Brazilian community, many immigrants have difficulty finding qualified work. They feel that their professional path is within the plane. There are also integration difficulties, especially for Brazilian women”, says the president of the Casa of Brazil from Lisbon.
According to Maicon, many homeowners ask for up to three deposits in advance to rent a property. “And the Portuguese are not always sympathetic to Brazilians,” he says, who also recommends a lot of planning for those thinking of emigrating.
“I’ve seen several reports of people going hungry here. And I think that if it hadn’t taken me so long to come, I would also have been going through some hardships for lack of information and planning.”
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