Portuguese emigrants or family members interested in receiving the aid provided for in the Return Program can apply this support from this Tuesday (28). The initiative has already benefited more than 36,000 people.
The program consists of financial support to be granted by the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP) to emigrants or family members of emigrants who begin working in mainland Portugal.
Additional support is also foreseen to reimburse the expenses inherent to the return of these Portuguese people and their family.
Applications are open until March 2026 and emigrants who begin working in mainland Portugal between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2025 are eligible. Companies or jobs created and open-ended employment contracts established during this period are eligible.
In October, when the State Budget proposal for 2026 (OE2026) was delivered to parliament, the Government announced the creation of the “Return” program, which includes incentive measures for Portuguese workers, investors or retirees who wish to return to Portugal, according to the proposal delivered today to parliament.
Young people are the majority of beneficiaries
The coordinator of the Regressar Program, José Albano, created in 2019 to encourage the return of emigrant workers, told Lusa, in July, that the number of emigrants who returned to Portugal under this support exceeded 36 thousand.
More than 73% of the number of Portuguese who returned under the program are between 25 and 44 years old, and, of these, 34% are qualified young people with a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate, which means that the program “is able to provide support to those young people who had to leave abroad and are now able to find opportunities in the country to fulfill themselves professionally, at the same time as helping companies to overcome the lack of qualified labor”.
Coming from 116 countries, applications for the program are led by Switzerland, followed by France and the United Kingdom, currently registering an average of 405 processes per month in the first half of this year, concluded the person in charge.
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