Minister of Labor announces Return Program with emigrants in Vilar Formoso – Observer
The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, released this Saturday the Regressar Programme, which already registers 11 thousand adhesions, with emigrants who entered Portugal through the border of Vilar Formoso. “We have around 11,000 people covered by the Regressar Programme, since it was created”, in 2019, said Ana Mendes Godinho on the border of Vilar Formoso, in the municipality of Almeida, district of Guarda, where she participated in the initiative “Natal Sem Fronteiras” . According to the minister, the last half of 2022 is the one that registers “the most requests”, which she considers “a good sign”.
“The countries from which most emigrants originate, at the moment, we have Switzerland first, then France, then the United Kingdom. Each of these countries has about 20% of people who are returning”, he told journalists. He added that people who joined the program left Portugal “between 2011 and 2015” and are between 25 and 44 years old.
The emigrants covered by the program referred to “various reasons and various reasons” for joining and returning to their country of origin, as indicated. The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security also explained that emigrants interested in returning to the country under the Regressar Program are supported through the Institute of Employment and Professional Training, to create their own jobs, and have a tax reduction “during the first five years they return to Portugal”.
During an action held this afternoon at the border of Vilar Formoso, the minister contacted some emigrants who are returning to the country in this festive season and provided information on the support measures and benefits of the program for all those who intend to return permanently to Portugal.
“With the same salary and the same conditions, coming here [para Portugal]”, said Nélia Vieira, an emigrant in Paris (France), born in Mortágua, in the district of Viseu, when she was approached by Ana Mendes Godinho. However, an emigrant managed to return to his country “in a few years, just with the pension”. In turn, Bráulio Silva, who was on his way to Coimbra, also coming from Paris, said that “at the moment” he does not exchange Portugal for France, where he emigrated ten years ago: “France, at the moment, has better conditions and a better life than that here”.
The Regressar Programme, which runs until 2026, “aims to support emigrants who want to return to their country”.
“Involving all areas of government, it provides concrete measures such as financial support for emigrants or family members of emigrants who come to work in Portugal, a more favorable tax regime for those who return and a line of credit to support business investment and the creation of new business in the national territory, among others”, according to the information provided by the Portuguese executive. The Regressar Program emerged “in a period of recovery of the economy and the labor market in Portugal to encourage the return of emigrants and their families and respond to the lack of manpower” in the country, according to the same source.
In the initiative carried out on the border of Vilar Formoso, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security was attended by the secretaries of State for Labour, Miguel Fontes, and Social Security, Gabriel Bastos, by Paulo Langrouva, member of the Institute’s Board of Directors of Employment and Vocational Training and by the executive director of the Contact Point for the Return of Emigrants – Regressar Programme, José Albano Marques.