In recent years in Portugal, the economy has fluctuated greatly and this is due to the increase in immigration. Since portugal introduced the golden visa program in 2012, there has been a great increase in immigration as foreigners especially from Brazil and China. This research question better extends the idea of people being attracted to the EU citizenship which they can obtain after 6 years with golden visa program.
Portugal has always been a country that has welcomed all types of immigrants from all over the globe. The first recent mass immigration was in 1974 after the 1974 revolution that overthrew the portuguese dictator, António Salazar, and his government. The retornados was the name the was given to all the immigrants that fled to Portugal from old Portuguese colonies such as Angola, Mozambique, and São Tomé e Principe. This was a great way for Portugal to welcome the new government as in the years leading up to April of 1974 there was a significant decrease in population in Portugal due to the mass migration of Portuguese people to countries such as France and Germany. The second most recent mass immigration increase in Portugal was when the Golden Visa program was introduced in 2012. This is a program which allows immigrants from all over the globe to obtain a residence visa in Portugal by buying property over 500,000 euros or over 350,000 if the property is older than 30 years old. After 6 years, one can obtain citizenship from portugal which allows them visa free entry to 174 countries.
Answering this question is important because the immigration in Portugal, especially in Lisbon, is affecting the portuguese people. The housing market has increased massively and portuguese people are having to move out from major cities in order to find cheaper property. The city is also transforming with a much more international culture and this is affecting the Portuguese culture. It is important to understand this massive immigration really helps the economy or not.
This question is a great way to understand not only how the portuguese economy is affected by immigration, but also how any other international economy is affected by immigration, because in a sense all economies work the same way. Through this question one will be able to conclude that the immigration has a great effect on the economy. Immigrants bring money and they bring new ideas which all affect the economy. Once an immigrant trades in a country, they become automatically part of that countries economy. Since the economy is affected by everyone, hence the reason that the economy is greatly affected by the immigration.
The recent growth in immigration in Portugal has had both positive and negative effects on the economy due to the Golden Visa program and the increase in labour force.
In 1974, Retornados was the first mass immigration of portugal that had a major increase in the labour force and a huge effect on the economy.
JSTOR- The Impact of 1970s Repatriates from Africa on the Portuguese Labor Market
“The Portuguese government set up a generous resettlement program for the retornados.”
“Portugal’s population grew by 5% in both 1974 and 1975 and by another 2% in 1976.”
The Labour force in Portugal grew roughly 10% over the period of 3 years.
Over the period of 1974-1977 the labour force had a massive increase, and this directly influenced the economy. Portugal was at a time of depression and the economy was at it lowest since it was recovering from a dictatorship regime. The mass immigration of returning long time emigrants was a b oost to the economy as they were willing to do the jobs that the portuguese people didn’t want to do.
These conclusions help support how does the immigration support the economy and influence it. The 1974 Retornados was the first example of mass immigration in Portugal in recent years. This helps understand the research question because although, the most effective change in the economy due to immigration was in recent years, the retornados has also affected the economy since 1974 and it is still impacting the Portuguese labour force today.
ARGUMENT 2
NOTE: This does not have to be one paragraph but may, instead, be a series of smaller paragraphs.
TOPIC SENTENCE
What is the first argument I will make to support my thesis?
The biggest reason why Portugal had to start implementing economic strategies in order to attract external wealth and economic growth was dues to the huge economic recession in 2007, that resulted in the worst Portuguese crisis in recent years. When the golden visa program was implemented in 2012, the economy saw a drastic growth overall.
RESOURCES
Which resources will support me in making this argument? List the titles of the resources you are using.
Gale: A New Sickman of Europe; The Portuguese Economy.
Book: Sustainability and the City
QUOTES
Which specific quotes will I use from these resources?
“LOOK at any table of European economic data and Portugal stands out. GDP growth last year, at 1.3%, was the lowest not just in the European Union but in all of Europe.”
“Portugal was the first country threatened with sanctions by the European Commission for breaching the euro zone’s stability and growth pact, which sets ceilings for euro members’ budget deficits.”
CONCLUSIONS
What conclusions and inferences can I make from these resources?
In 2007 the government of Portugal was really struggling to bring the GDP down below the EU established and set ceiling of 3%.
This was a direct impact of the Portuguese socialiste prime minister, José Socrates who was thought to be stealing from the government and in a sense his ideas was what really recessed the economy.
During his time as the prime minister, Socrates raised the VAT in the country from 19% to 21% and also raised the minimum retirement age from 60 to 65. This caused chaos among the labour force which decreased and also took the streets in protest especially those in the public sector.
Researchers say that the difference between Portugal and Its neighbor Spain in 2007 was that Spain’s economy has been extremely boosted by the rise in immigration which only started coming into Portugal in 2012-2015
In portugal the housing prices increased 22.3% between 2012 and 2015. I n lisbon the prices of the housing market upscaled a massive 105.9% between 2012 and 2015.
In lisbon, in the year of 2015 there was a total of 2,199 sales registered that in total, it was worth over 709 million euros.
The golden visa program is a program that encourages non-european citizens to invest at least 500 thousand euros in Portugal, generally in real estate property. This allows then to obtain the residence permit which they can change to citizenship after 5 years.
According to one of the most trustworthy consulting firms, Cushman and Wakefield the average price per square meter in Lisbon was 3000 euros at the end of 2015.
Meanwhile the supply of houses for the permanent portuguese resident in Lisbon’s historic center dropped in order to make way for the new incoming foreigners and tourist apartments.
APPLICATION
How do these conclusions specifically develop an answer to my research question?
With this argument we can clearly see how the economy was in 2007 until 2012, and how it was due to the portuguese prime minister at the time. With the argument we can also conclude that there was a drastic change in the economy in terms of growth and especially with the housing market as it was hugely affected by the golden visa program in 2012.
ARGUMENT 3
NOTE: This does not have to be one paragraph but may, instead, be a series of smaller paragraphs.
TOPIC SENTENCE
What is the first argument I will make to support my thesis?
Although there was a lot of immigration in Portugal in recent years that affected the economy and the housing market, the chinese immigration was what had the biggest impact. Since the golden visa program was implemented, the chinese have seen it as a opportunity to invest. The chinese people are attracted to foreign housing in portugal for a number of reasons.
RESOURCES
Which resources will support me in making this argument? List the titles of the resources you are using.
“Third Countries Migration and the Immigrant Investor Programs in the EU – the Case of the Chinese Immigrants in Portugal.
QUOTES
Which specific quotes will I use from these resources?
“The Golden residence permit program is valid for one year with the possibility to renew the„Golden visa“ for two more periods of two years. After five years of temporary residence, one is eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit.”
“Non-Habitual residence regime provides a flat income tax rate of 20% for qualifying employment and self-employment income, and a tax exemption for different foreign-source income. To be considered as a tax resident, applicants must remain in Portugal for more than 183 days during the relevant fiscal year or have a dwelling in Portugal on December 31 of that year, with the intention of holding it as a habitual residence.”
CONCLUSIONS
What conclusions and inferences can I make from these resources?
The golden visa program is a program that encourages non-european citizens to invest at least 500 thousand euros in Portugal, generally in real estate property. This allows then to obtain the residence permit which they can change to citizenship after 5 years.
The main reason why these immigrants apply for the golden visa program is because they can get a residence visa which allows them to roam free through europe.
The residents with the golden visa only have to be physically in portugal for a period of 7 days per year.
One of the main reasons why the chinese want to apply with the golden visa is because the chinese passports are only eligible to travel to 25 countries visa free, while on the other hand the portuguese passport can travel to 170 countries visa free.
The second reason why the chinese are so keen in buying property in Portugal is because since China is such an unstable country politically, the top 1% want to have a back up plan in case of chaos in China and will have somewhere to go live.
The third reason is that in portugal, there is a regime which is the Non-Habitual residence regime which is when one has property in Portugal but resides outside of the country for a period longer than 183 days per year. This regime is eligible for the investor to only pay 20% of the flat bases taxes over the property.
There is also the reason of the clean air. China is a country known to have great pollution in the major cities. This is a huge opportunities to have somewhere to go where they can get fresh air and enjoy the nature which is something that doesn’t exist in China.
APPLICATION
How do these conclusions specifically develop an answer to my research question?
This is a direct impact on the research question as the point supports with evidence exactly how the economy has been impacted by the chinese immigration. It is no secret that the biggest immigration in Portugal was dies to the chinese. To this day they are still buying and selling property and this has caused the portuguese economy to grow massively.
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