Immigration policies in Portugal

Abstract

Since the 1980s, immigration has ceased to be a minor component in Portuguese population movements. At the beginning of the 21st century, the foreign population with residence permits and temporary presence permits amounted to approximately 400,000 people, thus representing around 4% of the total resident population. In the recent history of Portuguese immigration it is possible to distinguish three periods: immigration from Africa following decolonisation, the 1980s and 1990s, which were marked by the growth and diversification of migratory flows, and the period of new migrations from Eastern Europe and Brazil at the turn of the century