How Portugal Changed in Just a Few Years of Massive Immigration

For most of the 20th century, Portugal was a country of emigration. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese sought work in France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, while immigration to the country remained limited. But in recent years, this trend has reversed at a speed unprecedented in the country’s modern history.

In just a few years, the number of immigrants has more than doubled, and Portugal has gone from being one of the EU’s least immigrant-populated countries to having one of Europe’s fastest-growing foreign-born populations. At the same time, the previously liberal migration policy has been abandoned and replaced with significantly stricter rules.

The real turning point began around 2017–2018, when the then-socialist government under António Costa gradually made it easier to take up residence in the country. The most important change was the Manifestação de Interesse (“declaration of interest”) system. It allowed foreigners to enter Portugal without a work visa, often as tourists, find a job locally, and then apply for a residence permit from within the country.

Normally, most European countries require a residence or work permit to be granted before entering. Portugal, instead, let many migrants legalize their stay retroactively.

The rules were liberalized even further in 2019, as those who could show they had worked and paid social contributions for a period found it even easier to regularize their status. This system made Portugal one of the most accessible countries in Europe for labor migration.

From 600,000 to Over 1.5 Million

At the beginning of the decade, about 590,000 foreign nationals lived in Portugal. Since then, the development has been dramatic.

During 2022 and especially 2023, the number of immigrants increased at record pace. By the end of 2023, the number had surpassed one million. After that, the increase continued due to extensive regularizations and the processing of hundreds of thousands of pending applications.

According to the latest figures, there are now about 1.5 million immigrants in Portugal — corresponding to just over 14 percent of the country’s population of about 10.5 million inhabitants.

Brazilians Dominate – But South Asia Is Growing Fastest

The clearly largest group of immigrants comes from Brazil, accounting for about a third of all foreign nationals in Portugal. Language, historical ties, and special rules within the Portuguese-speaking CPLP community have made Portugal a natural destination for many Brazilians.

Simultaneously, immigration from South Asia has increased explosively. Above all, the numbers from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have grown significantly in recent years. Immigration from Angola, Cape Verde, and Ukraine is also considerable.

Much of the labor force has been recruited for agriculture, the hotel and restaurant industry, construction, transport, and other low-wage sectors where Portuguese employers have long struggled to find staff. The rapid immigration simultaneously created major administrative issues.

When the previous immigration authority SEF was closed and replaced by AIMA, the new authority inherited several hundred thousand unresolved cases. At one point, it was estimated that between 300,000 and 450,000 residence permit applications were pending.

Many migrants had to wait months or years for a decision, while being allowed to stay in the country during the processing time. The government was then forced to carry out extensive efforts to work through the growing backlog.

Porto. Photo: Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Government Changed Course

After the change of government in 2024, the new conservative government declared that the previous policy had acted as a powerful pull for irregular migration. The Manifestação de Interesse system was abolished and the main rule once again became that people must have the correct visa before entering Portugal.

The government has since presented several legislative changes aimed at strengthening border controls, limiting the possibility for retroactive legalization of stays, and speeding up the expulsions of persons without the right to stay.

Housing and Public Services Under Pressure

The strong population growth has simultaneously coincided with an increasingly deep housing crisis. Especially in Lisbon and Porto, rents and house prices have soared. Municipalities, schools, healthcare, and immigration authorities have meanwhile had to handle a much greater population pressure than before.

The labor market has also changed rapidly. Several industries have become increasingly dependent on foreign labor, while labor unions have warned of low wages, insecure working conditions, and exploitation of migrants. The increase in immigration has also given rise to an intense political debate around security and crime.

The government has justified several of the new laws by stating that the previous system was exploited by networks involved in illegal migration and human trafficking. The number of investigations into such crime has also increased in recent years.

Chega Growing in the Polls

Migration has become one of Portugal’s most debated political issues. The anti-immigration party Chega has grown rapidly and made the extensive immigration one of its main election issues. The party has campaigned for drastically reducing immigration, faster expulsions, and an end to the systems that previously made it possible to obtain a residence permit after entry.

At the same time, the current government has gradually tightened legislation, marking a clear policy shift compared to the migration policies that characterized Portugal in the late 2010s.

A few weeks ago, Tyler Oliveira, a well-known YouTuber, published a report from Portugal focusing on the massive immigration and its consequences: