Portugal’s Government is calling upon Portuguese emigrants to return to Portugal. Under the Return Program (Regressar), the Government is offering tax benefits to families that are willing to come back and work in Portugal.
Portugal’s Secretary of State, who is promoting the Regressar program, stated to Lusa that the country has already received around 15.500 applications since 2019.
The Portuguese diaspora consists of a pool of talents and all countries have aggressive programs to try to attract such talents, which is the reason why Portugal needs to go the further mile. While Portuguese emigrants left the country for economic reasons, Portugal now has a low unemployment rate as well as economic growth, which is a factor that holds a number of opportunities.
According to SIC, around 60,000 people left Portugal in 2021. Since the start of the Regressar program in 2019, Portugal received around 15.500 applications from the diaspora, most of whom left the country between 2011 and 2015 and 70% of these were approved. Most applications came from Switzerland, France and the UK and it is to be noted that around 40% of applicants have received higher education.
The Regressar program includes support for job search, recognition of qualifications as well as language classes. Portugal has a demographic problem, and the Government is trying to reverse this cycle by making sure that they will be able to retain the youth in the country with a number of measures that include better salaries and free child-care. And the call to the Portuguese diaspora is loud and clear: Return to Portugal.
#ReturntoPortugal #Regressar #Portuguesediaspora #portugalnews #portugalbusinessnews