21 Jan 2019

ESPINHO AND SANTA MARIA DA FEIRA WITH NEW OFFICES FOR THE EMIGRANT WORKING ON ATTRACTING INVESTMENT

Santa Maria da Feira and Espinho had signed with the Government the protocols that will allow the functioning in these Municipalities of second-generation offices of support to the emigrant, now more focused on facilitating investments in Portugal by Portuguese descendent people.  

In what concerns the services already available in these structures, which in Feira and Espinho alone have motivated a total of 2566 calls in 2018, the new offices are distinguished by reinforcing their offer with advice on different topics related to investment in Portuguese territory and for working in coordination with the Diaspora Investor Support Office. 

According to the Secretary of State of the Portuguese Communities, José Luís Carneiro, there has been "more calls when related to the return to Portugal”, with interested people questioning the offices not only on matters related to school equivalents, contributory rights and employment and training opportunities, but also in what refers to opportunities of creating new companies.

The second-generation offices aim, therefore, to improve the access of the emigrants to "the information more focused on the dimension of entrepreneurship and incentive mechanisms for investment", as is the case of the "credit line recently created by the Ministry of Economy and aimed at in particular for Portuguese-Venezuelan citizens who wish to invest in Portugal".

Emídio Sousa, President of Feira City Hall, confirmed that the local emigrant support office has registered "a growing demand" since its inauguration in 2003 and stresses that 2018 was, in fact, the most active year of this structure, accounting for a total of 2,469 consultations.

Among these consultations, the majority are related to pension processes, compensation claims and unemployment benefits, since the majority had started from emigrants in France, Switzerland, Venezuela, Luxembourg, Germany and Spain. The "tendency to obtain Portuguese nationality on the part of Portuguese descendants" was also maintained.

The Mayor believes that the office will register a new momentum, now that it is better prepared to deal with business issues relevant to the diaspora and, thinking about that, this service was from the parish of Lobão to the center of Feira.

In Espinho, the new emigrant support office will continue to function at the local parish council, at 23rd Street, but Joaquim Pinto Moreira, Mayor of the City Hall, also recognizes to the renewed structure "more resources in order to respond to a migratory flow that has been accentuated in recent years, given the return of some emigrants due to the poor circumstances they are facing in Venezuela."

The Mayor said that Espinho has "a significant emigrant community", but admitted that investment solutions in Portugal should be of greater interest to the Portuguese living in other latitudes, since "that those who return from Venezuela often come without funds, just to escape a really very difficult situation".

In 2018, the Office of Support to the Emigrant of Espinho carried out a total of 70 consultations, modest numbers compared those of Feira because, as highlighted by Lurdes Ganicho, councilor of Social Action in the municipality, many of those who return to the municipality "do not get to contact no institution because they still have a family support here."

This is not the case, however, of the foreign community that wants to settle in Portugal, so that the councilor announces that the protocol concerning the newly renovated office of Street 23 now foresees "to support also the immigrants".

If so far, the interest in this service was essentially from "immigrants from Brazil, China, some natives from Venezuela and also from a case from Mexico", now the range of nationalities should increase, since, as Lurdes Ganicho points out taking into consideration numbers from 2017 of the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service, "there are about 500 foreigners living in Espinho with the proper visa."
Source: In, Diário de Notícias Online
Cookies policy

This site uses cookies. When browsing the site, you are consenting its use.   Learn More

I understood