The foreign population in Portugal increased by 33% last year, totaling more than one million immigrants living legally in the country, according to a document presented today by the Government.
The The foreign population in Portugal increased by 33% last year, totaling more than one million immigrants living legally in the country, according to a document presented today by the Government.
The government also compares this with the number of immigrants living in Portugal in 2015, which was 383,759.
The document states that the figures for 2023 are provisional and do not include foreigners with regular status under residence permits, short-stay visas, study visas, work visas or temporary stays, as well as foreigners with irregular status.
According to the government, the majority of residence permits granted in Portugal are for professional activity.
The document also states that migration contributes to “demographic revitalization and an increase in the active population”, with most foreigners living in Portugal being between 25 and 44 years old.
In the Action Plan for Migration, approved today by the Council of Ministers, the government put an end to the exceptional regime that allowed a foreigner to enter Portugal and only then apply for a residence permit and announced the creation of a mission structure to regularize pending cases, estimated at 400,000.
Among the 41 measures set out in the plan, there is also the transformation of the current mobility visa for immigrants from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) into a community visa (Shengen), which allows them to move around the European Union, and the creation of a Foreigners and Borders Unit (UEF) in the PSP to monitor the presence of immigrants and create emergency call centers.
