What some migrants in Portugal told us...

By Anabela Mateus and Ana Cunha from Lusófona University

Interviewing the four migrants selected to participate in the SEHEME Case Studies booklet was an interesting process since we had the opportunity to get to know four people from different social and economic backgrounds who came to our country due to different reasons. It was not only interesting but also made us think about how safe and free we live in Portugal even though sometimes we tend not to value that.

Also, these stories also made us realise that we are very luck not to have gone through all sorts of hardships that migrants go through when they move to a different country where they do not know anyone, sometimes, not even the language. This was also an opportunity for us to confirm our suspicion, that the legalisation process is far from easy, pretty much as everything that involves the heavy bureaucracy in our country. The four migrants talked described how difficult it is to deal with the government agencies to obtain the documents that allow them to work and be legal in Portugal. Some admitted feeling discriminated against just because they are foreigners, which made us feel very ashamed and sad. How is it possible that a people of emigrants (everywhere you go in the world you will find a Portuguese) treats migrants this way?

Signs of these troubled times we live in perhaps...

Fortunately, not all is sad, quite the opposite…
The stories that we selected to be included in the SEHEME Case Studies booklet are good examples of integration in a host country. We chose them because these migrants had entirely different motivations, they come from very different countries and cultures, and still, they are well integrated in the country.

R. is a 29 year old woman from Serbian, a pharmacist who met the love of her life (a Serbian who was already living in Portugal and did not want to live anywhere else). R. tells her story from childhood, mentioning her painful memories of the war in Serbia that she chooses to forget. We get to know how difficult it was for her to choose between getting married and immigrate and stay in her country where she had her family and a good job. Her major difficulty was the language but with a lot of hard work and persistence she now speaks Portuguese and has a job at a university. She now feels more comfortable in Portugal, she is already considering the possibility of staying in Portugal, she does not know if for life, of course, but at least in the nearer future.

M. comes from Brazil. He is 27 years old and received a job offer in Portugal. He had a very stable life in Brazil, a very good job, he had never thought of immigrating before, but the opportunity made him decide. His major motivation was the violence and crimes in Brazil that would not let him have the life he always dreamed of. A life in which he could enjoy going to the beach or going for a stroll without fearing of being killed. And so he came to Portugal and here he enjoys his life, he feels that he contributes with something to society every day, he feels that he has his place here, that he belongs here. Above all, he has the freedom he has always dreamed of when he used to live in Brazil.