Immigration in Brazil - Nicanor Mandin

Category: Immigration

Based on 2005 census estimation: population - approximately 186,112,794 people
Ethnic groups in Brazil consist of 55% white, which includes Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, and Polish people, 38% mixed white and black races, 6% black, and 1% other, which includes Japanese, Arabs, and Amerindians.
The birth rate, based on a 2005 estimate is about 16.83 births/1,000, and the death rate is about 6.15 deaths/1,000, making the population growth rate about 1.06%.
The migration rate based on a 2005 estimate is -.03 migrants per 1,000.
Much of the migration in South America has been tied to economic factors. Brazil’s government has encouraged migration into the country because they wanted their large territory to be filled and also for increases in agricultural production. Currently, the government doesn’t have any policies encouraging nor discouraging immigration.
During the 1880s, the government of Getulio Vargas was working towards a uniform Brazilian culture with all the immigrants. Their goal was to change their culture by “forcing them to learn Portugese, prohibiting them to organize their own political groups, and forbidding them to publish foreign-language magazines and newspapers, or to instruct classes in languages other than Portugese.”
During the late 1980s, Brazilians, regardless of socioeconomic levels emigrated to other countries to look for more economic opportunities. The “lost decade,” which was characterized by the low economic growth and high inflation was followed by the government’s liberal economic policies in the 90s which proved unsuccessful. This meant that educated Brazilians were now able to make plenty of money doing low-skilled work. During the 90s, over 1.8 million Brazilians had emigrated to many places such as the U.S., Paraguay, Japan, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Israel.
In 1980, the Brazilian government had established the National Immigration Council. This council was responsible for issuing work permits and visas in order to implement migration policies. One year later, a new immigration law was put into effect that basically outlined the visa categories for foreigners. In the years around 2000, the Brazilian government intended to prioritize visas and work permits for qualified foreigners with a college degree by implementing certain types of resolutions that regarded rules for foreign workers. Since most immigrants didn’t quite meet the government’s requirements, being less-skilled and not as educated, Brazilian workers’ organizations tried to help this cause by pushing the government to create new obstacles for foreign workers so job competition would not be an issue. However, the government had not made any big changes to the work permit system.