Government’s ‘come home’ scheme to attract Portugal’s lost workers

The government’s strategy to help emigrants return to Portugal, “to meet the labour needs that are currently felt in some sectors of the Portuguese economy,” aims also to “deepen their relationship with their community of origin.”

Portuguese workers who emigrated and want to return to Portugal will be able to join the Regressar programme, which now is operational.

A resolution by the Council of Ministers, published this Thursday in Diário da República, approved the programme which was created by the António Costa government in response to the challenge of, “national and social cohesion, the challenge of guaranteeing a new engine of economic development and the challenge of contributing to the demographic rejuvenation of the country.”

The Regressar programme provides for, “the creation of new incentives that reduce the costs of returning to Portugal and facilitate the professional and geographical transition for workers and their families.”

With regard to labor integration, the programme offers vocational training and retraining to facilitate integration into the Portuguese labour market.

The programme includes a specific credit line for investors and Portuguese emigrants who want to invest.

Upwards of 300,000 Portuguese workers left the country during the austerity years and the majority have settled in other European countries, unlikely to return to their homeland as a result of the Regressar programme.

Those who already have decided to return, will take full advantage of what is on offer.

This patch does little to address the reasons for their leaving: a lack of well paid jobs with proper contracts.