"Guide to Hiring Foreign Citizens in the Azores" approved, announces Paulo Estêvão - Communication

Secretaria Regional dos Assuntos Parlamentares e Comunidades

The Regional Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities, Paulo Estêvão, announced today, after the first 2024 meeting of the Regional Advisory Council for Immigration Affairs (CCRAI), that the "Guide to Hiring Foreign Citizens in the Azores" has been approved. This a document containing "important information" for employers and future foreign employees in the Region.

"It is a guide that will provide important information for anyone who wishes to reside in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and work here. Employers will also have a guide to everything they need to do," he said, speaking at the end of the meeting held at the Conceição Palace in Ponta Delgada.

"People who come to the Azores must be welcomed with dignity," emphasised Paulo Estêvão.

He added: "We regard immigration as a fundamental phenomenon to the Region's economic growth and we are keen to ensure this integration and provide good responses in our institutions, whether in social security, health or education."

The CCRAI, which met today, aims to ensure the participation and collaboration of associations representing immigrants, social partners, social solidarity institutions and other organisations providing social and cultural support to immigrants in defining and coordinating policies for social integration and fighting exclusion.

At the first meeting of this body chaired by Paulo Estêvão, the agenda also included presentations by the President of the  Azores Building Industry and Public Works Association (AICOPA), Alexandra Bragança, and the President of the Azores Office of the Association of Hospitality, Restaurants and Similar Services of Portugal, Cláudia Chaves.

The meeting ended with a celebration of Luso-Brazilian Community Day, annually marked on April 22, with the testimonials from two Brazilian immigrants about their integration into Azorean society, namely Eleonora Marino Duarte, from Rio de Janeiro, and Ângela Fernandes, from São Paulo.

Established in 2002, the CCRAI has as its main mission to collaborate in developing social integration policies for immigrants aimed at eliminating discrimination and promoting equal opportunities and participate in the definition of measures and actions contributing to the improvement of immigrants' living conditions and the defence of their rights. 

With the fifth amendment to the Regional Implementing Decree no. 30/2002/A of November 22, through the Regional Implementing Decree no. 36/2023/A, the CCRAI is now made up of the regional directors for the Communities, Education, Social Solidarity, Employment and Vocational Training, Health, and the Promotion of Equality and Social Inclusion. It also includes representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Azores, AIPA - Association of Immigrants in the Azores, CRESAÇOR -   Regional Cooperative of Solidarity Economy/Migrant Support Office, ASIBA-Association of Brazilian Immigrants in the Azores, the Regional Union of Private Social Solidarity Institutions of the Azores, the Association of Municipalities of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the National Republican Guard, the Public Security Police, the Criminal Investigation Police and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, I.P.

The Azorean Government has implemented a policy aimed at developing initiatives and strategies to promote the full integration of immigrant citizens, acknowledging their active contribution to the enrichment of Azorean society in various areas.