The government’s ‘Regressar’ programme, focused on convincing Portuguese emigrés to return to this country, is recording a ‘bumper year’
“There have never been so many emigrés returning”, writes SIC Notícias today, citing a story published in Público.
Just in the first quarter of this year, 2,800 Portuguese nationals have requested the financial support launched in 2019 as a way of trying to attract talent ‘back to this country’ after the dismal troika exodus.
The majority of those applying are aged between 25 and 44, and are male.
The stories do not go too deeply into why these emigrés have decided to return – but certainly, politically, situations in both France and the United Kingdom are not improving, and everyday lives are not becoming any easier in those countries. Ditto in Switzerland where the cost of living/ accommodation and healthcare have become major issues.
By signing up to ‘Regressar’, Portuguese nationals get 5-years’ worth of income tax relief, subsidies to help with travel arrangements and relocation, and credit lines to help with setting up businesses.
Regarding ‘destinations’ chosen by those returning, they are in the main northern Portugal and Vale do Tejo (area close to Lisbon).
Since it began under the PS Socialist government of António Costa, Regressar has seen almost 37,000 nationals ‘coming home’, 20,000 of them being whole families.
Regressar is due to run until the end of December 2026, after which point the AD government of Luís Montenegro has already announced that it will be launching the ‘Voltar’ programme, widening Regressar’s target group to include emigré pensioners.
Discussing the success of Regressar, former secretary of state for Labour Miguel Fontes explained why the ‘tax savings’ to emigrés (roughly €48 million so far) cannot be seen as a loss to the Portuguese state: “The return of workers and residents results in more tax revenue, particularly IVA. If they didn’t return, that tax would not be collected”.
Fontes however is not a fan of the plan to widen the programme to include retired people, as he believes these would be opting to come back to this country whether they were given financial incentives or not.
Source material: SIC / Executivedigest.com
