Brazil grants work permit to 25 thousand foreigners in 2017

Over 25 thousand work permits were granted to foreigners by the Brazilian government last year. Most workers came from the US—approximately 20 percent of all permits.

The figures can be found in a yearly report dubbed Migrações e Mercado de Trabalho no Brasil (“Migrations and the Labor Market in Brazil”), published by the International Migrations Observatory, an agency linked to the Ministry of Labor and Employment.

Altogether, nearly 26 thousand work permits were granted to foreigners in 2017—approximately a thousand of them permanent, some 24,300 temporary. Compared to previous years, the figure was considerably reduced. In 2011, for instance, permits issued added up to close to 70 thousand. In the following years, the number was also seen to decline. The drop became sharper in 2014 and later.

This downward trend “may be seen as a result of the economic difficulties facing the country in the last years,” the document reads.

Nationalities and fields

The US is the country of origin of most foreign workers coming to work in Brazil in 2017—permits issued by Brazil amounted to 5 thousand. Other countries at the top include Philippines (2.1 thousand), the UK (1.8 thousand), China (1.6 thousand), and India (1.5 thousand). The three countries atop the list have been the main source of immigrant professionals incorporated into the Brazilian labor market since 2011.

The states with the highest number of immigrant workers last year were Rio de Janeiro (11.1 thousand), São Paulo (10.7 thousand), and Rio Grande do Sul (603).

Regarding immigrants’ qualifications, over half of them (13.4 thousand) held a university degree. Another significant portion (10.7 thousand) went no further than high school. “Immigrants with a college degree come chiefly from the US, the Philippines, France, and the UK. As for those who graduated from high school only come from the US, the UK, China, and Italy,” the report says.

The field with the highest amount of immigrants was sciences and art—permits totaled 12.2 thousand—followed by professionals with vocational training at high-school level (6.6 thousand), industrial workers (2.3 thousand), trade and service workers (1.8 thousand), directors and managers (1.3 thousand), and repair and maintenance professionals (798).