Leaders of the local Portuguese community are calling on Portugal’s foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, to address growing concerns over residency restrictions impacting their compatriots in the SAR.
Rangel is scheduled to visit Macao and Hong Kong today, as part of his four-day trip to China. He spent the past three days in Beijing, where he met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries and Macao’s role as a centre for trade between China and the lusophone world.
According to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa, cited in the Macau Daily Times, the president of Casa de Portugal in Macau (CPM), Maria Amélia António, wants Rangel to understand how difficult recent changes in the SAR’s immigration policy have made it for institutions like hers to recruit qualified professionals for arts and language programmes.
“We are facing significant challenges in finding replacements for those who have left Macao,” she said.
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Last year, Macao authorities stopped processing new residency applications for Portuguese citizens seeking specialised technical roles, except in cases of family reunification or to those with prior ties to the region.
Miguel de Senna Fernandes, president of the Association for the Promotion of Macanese Instruction (APIM), echoed António’s concerns, particularly regarding the Portuguese School of Macau (EPM). “As a Portuguese person in Macao, of course, I would like my fellow countrymen to be well treated, and naturally, that residency in Macao should always be facilitated,” he said.
However, the president of the EPM Foundation, Jorge Neto Valente, told Lusa there was “no need for complaints or requests” to the foreign minister because “everything is functioning normally.” He added that he looked forward to Rangel seeing how the school was operating first-hand.
While in Macao, Rangel will meet with Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai and members of the local Portuguese community. He will also visit the Hong Kong Museum of History’s Estórias Lusas exhibition, which shines a light on Portuguese contributions in Hong Kong.
