The foreign population living in Portugal increased for the seventh consecutive year in 2022 to a total of 781,915 citizens, with the Brazilian community the most representative and the one growing the most, the SEF revealed this Friday.
“In 2022, there was an increase in the resident foreign population for the seventh consecutive year, with an increase of 11.9% over 2021, totaling 781,915 foreign citizens with a residence permit”refers to the Immigration, Borders and Asylum Report (RIFA), which Bureau Lusa accessed on the occasion of the anniversary of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).
According to the SEF, Brazilians remain the main foreign community living in the country, accounting for 30.7% of the total last year, and it was also the community from Brazil that grew the most in 2022 (17.1%) compared to 2021, a total of 239,744 .
RIFA indicates that the United Kingdom maintains its position compared to 2021 with a growth of 5.8%, being the second most representative foreign nationality in Portugal.
“The continued growth of foreign citizens from European Union countries confirms the particular impact of the attractiveness factors already mentioned in previous years, such as the perception of Portugal as a safe country, as well as the tax advantages resulting from the regime for non-residents . Ordinary”explains the report, highlighting immigrants from Angola, which moved up three positions and now ranks sixth with a 23.1% increase, and India, which is now the fourth most representative community.
Romania and China left the group of the ten most representative nationalities in Portugal.
At the end of 2022, 239,744 Brazilians lived in Portugal, followed by citizens of the United Kingdom (45,218), Cape Verde (36,748), India (35,416), Italy (34,039), Angola (31,761), France (27,512), Ukraine (25,445), Nepal (23,839) and Guinea-Bissau (23,737).
The SEF also reports that in 2022, Portugal was the country of destination for 44,519 Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war to whom the Portuguese state granted temporary protection.
Immigrants mainly live on the coast, with about 65% registered in the districts of Lisbon, Faro and Setúbal, a total population of 512,141, while in 2021 there were 466,779.
The report highlights the increases for the districts of Bragança, which had declined since 2020, and Viana do Castelo, specifying that seven of the ten municipalities with the highest number of registered foreign citizens belong to the Lisbon metropolitan area.
In terms of migration flow, the SEF continues the downward trend that had occurred since 2020 with 143,081 new titles being released, an increase of 28.5% compared to the previous year when 111,311 new titles were released.
Most new titles were also awarded to Brazilians (43,313), followed by Indians (7,414) and Italy (6,977), Angola (6,939) and Bangladesh (6,153).
“The most relevant reasons for granting new residence permits were professional activity (51,525) and family reunification (27,054)”, the RIFA reads.
Source: DN
