Brazilians are welcome in Portugal, including new laws that make it easier to enter and find work, said Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Souza. He participated, this Saturday (2), in a ceremony alluding to the centenary of the first air crossing of the South Atlantic, by the Lusitânia expedition, in honor of the then Centenary of the Independence of Brazil.
“[Tem uma nova lei] that allowed even one more generation to acquire Portuguese nationality. And Brazilians today have broader chances to be able to have a residence, to have their formal documents and to be able to circulate in Europe”, said the president, at the end of the ceremony, which also had the participation of the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes.
Rebelo de Souza also highlighted a new type of visa, which will allow Brazilians to enter Portugal to look for a job: “The new visa to look for work will come into force very soon”.
Asked how Brazilians are being received in Portugal, the president said in the best possible way.
“Very good [recebidos] in the last years. The number of Brazilians grew to well over 200,000. There is a city, which is not Lisbon or Porto, it is called Braga, which in less than ten years the number of Brazilians grew by 137%”, stressed Rebelo de Souza.
The mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, highlighted in his speech the historic links between the two countries and welcomed, on behalf of the Brazilian people, the Portuguese president and his entourage.
“I want to extend a warm welcome from the Brazilian people, who admire the Portuguese people so much, who have so much identity, and say that you are very welcome to this country. We welcome you with open arms”, said Paes, during the ceremony, in the 1st Naval District, where an allusive plaque was unveiled.
Crossing
A milestone for world air navigation, from March 30 to June 17, 1922, Portuguese aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral undertook the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. Departing from the Tagus River, in Lisbon, where the aircraft christened Lusitânia, a single-engine seaplane specially designed for the occasion, performed the first flight connecting Portugal to Brazil, thus repeating, by air, the sea voyage of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral, a few centuries earlier.
In all, the air mission lasted 62 hours and 26 minutes, covering about 8,300 kilometers, making stops in Las Palmas, Gando, São Vicente, São Tiago, Penedos de São Pedro and São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, in Recife, in Salvador. , Porto Seguro, Vitória and, finally, in Rio de Janeiro, which at the time was the Brazilian capital.
