The collective figure of immigrants was chosen as the national personality of 2025 by journalists from the Lusa agency, an election that Rui Marques, coordinator of the Consenso Imigração expert group, considers fair and a “sign of a year” in which the country “shifted from hospitality to hostility” towards foreigners.
Immigration was a topic in the last two legislative election campaigns. In 2024, the current PSD/CDS government supported far-right complaints and accused the PS of having an “open-door” policy, and in 2025, it introduced several legal measures that brought new constraints on the entry of immigrants, imposing work visas issued in the countries of origin and extended deadlines for nationality or family reunification requests for those already in the country.
Job-seeking visas will now only be granted to those who are qualified, and tougher rules to promote the expulsion of immigrants are under review, a sign that “changed the paradigm of a welcoming society towards immigrants” throughout the year, said Rui Marques.
“Immigrants became scapegoats for all that is wrong, in all problems, the responsibility shifted to immigrants,” a successful strategy promoted, “particularly by far-right populism.”
This rhetoric and the demonization of immigrants “represented a social and political dynamic with immense consequences, a great injustice to immigrants and a punishment for the country,” because, “despite the significant number of immigrants, we have a full employment rate” and the “economic growth rate remained steady.”
The ongoing narrative against immigrants will harm “sectors that heavily depend on immigrants,” such as agriculture, fishing, tourism, or hospitality, and “this constitutes a huge injustice for everyone,” warned Rui Marques, who regrets the lack of memory from those who complain about “poor foreigners” choosing Portugal as a destination.
“Immigrants are not angels or demons, they are just people like us seeking to fulfill their dreams of a better life,” recalled the civic platform leader and founder of the former High Commissioner for Migrations.
“Portugal has a great emigration history, knows well what it is like to set off in search of better conditions, and this year did not live up to its historical responsibilities, moving from hospitality to hostility towards immigration,” he considered.
In 2025, the country “traveled a path that needs to be reversed,” and it is up to political and social agents to “appeal to the conscience of each individual.”
“Only in this way will we have social cohesion, only in this way will we have a society with a future and build a fair economy for all,” he stated.
2025 was also the year when the authorities resolved the pending cases at the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) and revised the total numbers of foreigners in Portugal, around 1.5 million people, including economic immigrants, expatriates, and foreigners who chose to retire in Portugal.
According to the 2024 Migration and Asylum Report, as of the end of December 2024, there were 1,543,697 foreign citizens residing in national territory. Compared to the end of 2017, when 421,802 foreign citizens lived in Portugal, the number almost quadrupled.
