The newly appointed National Council for Migration and Asylum president wants regular immigration within Portugal. He suggested several ways where the country can proceed with normal immigration. The President has urged the Government to be bold when they look for immigration.
Several Ways To Regulate Immigration
António Vitorino, the newly appointed president of the National Council for Migration and Asylum has suggested that the Government look for ways to regulate immigration. Some Portuguese politicians think that the Government has adopted ways that are not sufficient. The former European Commissioner also believes that although there are several ways to organize regular immigration, the Government has chosen a method that is not optimal. He talked to SIC Notícias where he stated:
The Government has expressed a preference, which is for people to apply for a work visa and have an employment contract. That is one of the possible options. I believe that it is not enough. I believe that it is necessary to be bolder for our country.
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The former Director General of the International Organization for Migration believes that skilled immigration is essential. He knows that skilled immigration will bring benefits to the country but jobs like nursing homes or daycare centers do not need a PhD. These jobs can be filled by unskilled immigrants as well. The former Director General stated:
This is the big mistake in the narrative today: that we only need qualified workers. That’s not true. We need workers of all skill categories. I don’t know of any waiting list of Portuguese people wanting to go and pick red fruit in Odemira.
António Urges Government To Be Bold
António Vitorino has asked the officials of the Government to be bold and bring all kinds of immigration. The skilled immigrants can apply for jobs where degrees of higher education need to be provided. The unskilled immigrants can apply for jobs in nursing homes or daycare centers. Portugal can bring immigrants to work in sectors like fishing, construction, agriculture, and tourism. He stated:
It is relatively clear that this contingent of immigrants is necessary to guarantee a very simple thing: the Portuguese economy.
The Portuguese economy can benefit by giving jobs to the new immigrants. The newly appointed President of the National Council for Migration and Asylum also informed that citizens who feel uncomfortable with the new migrants cannot be labeled as ‘racists. He believes that living with new people with diverse cultures can be difficult for some people. António thinks the only solution for this is to make a new integration policy within the Portuguese societies. This policy will be in coordination with the origin of the immigrants’ countries.
More Immigrants Enter Portugal
SIC Notícias has informed about an increase in the number of immigrants over the last two years. More Immigrants tend to enter Portugal as compared with previous years. An increase of 95% if observed in the last 2 years alone. According to the data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of immigrations has become the highest since 2015. The INE organization has estimated an entry of 190,000 permanent immigrants. This marks an increase of 95% from the number of immigrations that entered the country in 2021.
It is noted that the overall population in the country has increased once again. There has been an increase as calculated in the last year. A total of 10.5 million people live in the country. This marks an increase of 123,000 people in 2023 as compared to the previous year, 2022. The only reason for such a drastic growth is because of immigration. Portugal can benefit positively from this growth by giving jobs to these immigrants to fill all the vacant spots.
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