Speaking to the media on Friday, Portugal’s Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that it ‘wants to position Portugal as a country to work’ and tourism is one of the sectors in which the government intends to attract workers from abroad.
Mendes, who was speaking on the panel “How to attract professionals to tourism”, during the VI Portuguese Tourism Summit highlighted that this “was the sector that lost the most jobs during the pandemic”, citing a report by The Portugal News.com.
Authorities said that 100 000 workers were lost over this period and while the sector had recovered 40 000 workers, there was still a gaping hole to fill.
The Portuguese government said the aim was to establish “procedures that allow attracting regulated and integrated immigration for the development of the country, changing how the public administration relates to immigrants and guaranteeing conditions for the integration of immigrants”.
The entry and free movement of citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) was also facilitated as their job search and residence visas would be automatically approved, Xinhua news reported.
“These requests must be granted outright unless the applicant is identified in the Schengen Information System as having some legal restriction of refusal of entry and stay,” the decree says.