Portugal: Europe's last open door for immigrants

The Manila Times

Portugal: Europe's last open door for immigrants  Portugal's immigration has doubled in five years, with a million foreigners now living there, making up one-tenth of the population. While Brazilians are still the biggest group, Indians, Nepalis, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis are among the top new arrivals. Despite the far-right Chega party's popularity, Portugal's official data indicates increasing acceptance of immigration.  Video by AFP  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews  #europe  #portugal  #immigrants

Transcript

00:00 Off the coast of northern Portugal, this group of fishermen is on the lookout for octopuses.

00:09 Half the crews on board ships in the area are no longer Portuguese, but Indonesian.

00:15 The Indonesian fishermen who work here don't have insurance when they have problems.

00:19 The Indonesian family is not a family.

00:24 They have insurance.

00:27 It's not legal.

00:30 Skipper José Luís Gómez says his Portuguese compatriots don't want to do the tough job anymore

00:37 when there are better salaries elsewhere.

00:39 Before, there were a lot of people who worked, but now there are less and less.

00:45 If it weren't for the 90% of our art, there would be more.

00:52 Now there are more.

00:53 No one works anymore.

00:54 Since 2007, Portugal has granted papers to all those who declare their earnings,

01:00 allowing immigrants to be quickly absorbed into the legal economy,

01:04 paying taxes and social charges straight away.

01:07 In other countries, there is no possibility that the Portuguese law,

01:12 which was won with a lot of struggle, with many years of struggle,

01:16 immigrants got involved, fought, went to the assembly, went to the streets,

01:20 fought for their rights.

01:22 And this Portuguese law still allows people to regularize in Portugal,

01:29 as long as they have a job.

01:31 The job is a sector, let's say, it's a structural factor of the person who emigrates.

01:36 Since 2018, Portugal also grants papers to those who enter the country illegally.

01:42 And in 2022, a new amendment allowed foreigners looking for work

01:47 a temporary six-month visa.

01:49 With one of Europe's most open immigration regimes,

01:52 the country has seen its foreign-born population double in the past five years.

01:57 In 2023, a million foreigners were living in Portugal,

02:00 accounting for one-tenth of the population.

02:03 While Brazilians remain the largest population of immigrants,

02:06 Indians, Nepalis, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis

02:10 now figure in the top ten of new arrivals.

02:13 We serve 100 people a day.

02:17 This is incredible.

02:19 In the small southern town of São Teotônio in the Alentejo region,

02:23 there are now more Indian and Nepali restaurants than Portuguese ones.

02:27 Many locals have left to look for jobs elsewhere,

02:30 and South Asian farm workers have stepped in to bring the region's fruit farms back to life.

02:35 Ritu Catri and her husband came to do the same,

02:37 and eventually were able to save up enough money to buy a small café.

02:41 I earned more.

02:43 And when I get more fruit, I pay my cousin.

02:48 And I save more money, and little by little, I put it in the bank and buy it.

02:55 But my parents also helped.

02:57 Portugal's immigration law allowed Catri's husband to gain residency five years after arriving,

03:02 and a Portuguese passport two years after that.

03:05 When I was older, I played football very well.

03:08 And I started playing for the club São Teotônio.

03:14 He doesn't know how to speak our language.

03:17 He speaks Portuguese and English very well.

03:20 He doesn't know our food. He doesn't like our food.

03:23 He doesn't know our culture. He doesn't want to go to Nepal.

03:27 With an aging population, the labor shortage in some areas of Portugal is particularly acute.

03:34 Luís Carlos Vila lives in an isolated corner of northwest Portugal.

03:40 For him, foreign workers who he hires completely legally through employment agencies are essential.

03:47 He's an immigrant.

03:49 My father also went abroad because he needed to make a living.

03:52 And the men are in the same conditions.

03:54 So we have to understand this need that they have to get better living conditions,

04:01 to get better income.

04:03 But we also need this workforce because we don't have it.

04:06 That's a reality.

04:08 The Portuguese, at least in the interior, have this perception that there is no Portuguese workforce.

04:12 Next year, maybe my family will be here in Portugal.

04:18 And my wife, this next year, maybe in here.

04:22 Polls show that openness towards immigration has been steadily growing in Portugal,

04:31 despite the recent rise of far-right Chega party, which says it wants zero tolerance for illegal immigration.

04:37 "No to immigration! No to immigration!"

04:41 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast

04:47 Thanks for watching!

Transcript

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