The number of Brazilians legally living in Portugal grew for the fifth year in a row and reached the record mark of 209,072 people in 2021. The result represents an increase of 13.6% compared to 2020.
As a result, Brazilians remain in the isolated leadership as the largest immigrant community in Portuguese territory, representing 29.2% of all foreigners in good standing in the country.
The information was disclosed by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) to the Lusa news agency and confirmed by sheet. Although the Brazilian community is already quite expressive according to the data released, the real number is even higher.
People with dual citizenship from Portugal or from another European Union country are not counted as Brazilian. Those who are in an irregular migratory situation in the country are also left out of the statistics.
The Itamaraty estimates that there are 300,000 Brazilians living in Portugal. Associations that support immigrants believe the number could reach 400,000.
“We have noticed the increasing arrival of people from Brazil. The profiles are very varied: students, investors, workers from all areas”, evaluates Cyntia de Paula, president of Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, an NGO that helps the Brazilian community in parents.
In 2021, the total number of immigrants of all nationalities living in Portugal also reached its record since the beginning of the historical series: there are 714,123 foreigners among the approximately 10.3 million inhabitants.
The figure represents an increase of almost 80% compared to 2016 — the year in which immigration in Portugal returned to growth after a period of decline — when there were 397,731 citizens from other countries. In comparison with 2020, the increase was 7.8%.
Migratory flows between Portugal and Brazil tend to accompany political-economic issues. After reaching a peak of 119,363 residents in 2010, the Brazilian community fell in subsequent years, when Portugal began to experience the consequences of a severe economic crisis in which it had to ask for international financial assistance. Meanwhile, Brazil was experiencing a good economic moment and low unemployment.
From 2017, with Portugal growing and Brazil with a deteriorating political and economic landscape, the dynamics reversed. Since then, the number of Brazilians has grown at an accelerated pace.
Unlike most European countries, Portugal has a relatively simple, albeit lengthy, regularization system for those who enter the country as a tourist and remain living and working without proper authorization. This regularization through work is traditionally the main way of granting residence permits for Brazilians.
The process, however, is often bureaucratic. Even fulfilling all the requirements and paying taxes on time, it is common to have a wait of two or more years before obtaining the residence permit.
Irregular immigration status leaves foreigners even more vulnerable to labor exploitation and other problems, and is strongly discouraged by migration experts.
In the assessment of the president of Casa do Brasil, the pace of arrival of Brazilians has already reached the same levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic. Because of Covid-19, Portugal’s borders were closed to Brazilian tourists between March 2020 and September 2021.
“We consider that there was only a moment of pause with the closing of borders. After the pandemic issue, we consider that people came in force”, says Cyntia de Paula.
With the delay of many regularization processes, statistics tend to be delayed in relation to the current situation of migratory flows. In other words, the data released this Friday still does not include who arrived recently.
For Cyntia, many of the newcomers have faced difficulties in the country. One of the main problems is access to housing. According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), buying a house in Portugal has become around 50% more expensive in the last five years.
Although at a more moderate pace, the value of rents has also been rising — a point particularly felt by immigrants, who are already looking for alternatives in less crowded parts of Portuguese territory. “We also noticed a deterritorialization [da comunidade brasileira], in the sense of not staying only in Lisbon. People have been looking for smaller cities, mainly motivated by the price of housing.”
