The Ministry of Labor granted 25,937 work permits to foreigners in 2017. There were 24,294 temporary authorizations and 1,006 permanent ones. The information is part of the Annual Report prepared by the Observatory of International Migration (OBMigra), University of Brasília (UnB), under the supervision of the General Immigration Coordination (CGIg), and was presented during the 2nd ordinary meeting of the National Immigration Council (CNIg) occurred on Tuesday (13).

The number of authorizations was lower than in 2016, when 30,327 thousand documents were issued. According to the Minister of Labor, Helton Yomura, 2017 was marked by a year of changes in immigration legislation, which may justify the reduction in labor concessions. “The year was one of changes in the immigration law. The adaptation period ends up having an influence on the concession process,” he said.

Of the foreigners interested in carrying out some labor activity in the country, the male sex predominated with 22,537 authorizations issued, while for the female sex were 3,399. Almost all immigrants had completed higher education (13,444) or completed high school (10,724). By age group, more authorizations were issued for foreigners between 20 and 34 years (9,989) and 35 and 49 years (10,857).

Countries – The United States occupies the top of the ranking among the countries that emit foreign labor to Brazil. The MTb granted 5,098 work permits for Americans, followed by the Philippines (2,127), the United Kingdom (1,827), China (1,606), India (1,459) and France (1,424).

Of the South American countries, the authorizations were concentrated on nationals of Venezuela (239), Colombia (223) and Argentina (188).

For the realization of events in Brazil, prevailed among the temporary authorizations, contemplated by Normative Resolution nº 69, with 10,295 concessions, being 4,238 for the US and 1,159 for the United Kingdom.

Another prominent occupation in the report is the foreign professional to work on board a foreign vessel or platform, activities contemplated by Normative Resolution No. 72. For this group there were 6,504 permits, of which 1,991 for Filipinos.

States – Rio de Janeiro is the state that received the most foreign professionals (11,110), followed by São Paulo (10,788), Rio Grande do Sul (603), Minas Gerais (595), Bahia (507) and Espírito Santo (426) .

The general coordinator of Immigration, Hugo Gallo, explains that the work authorization based on the previous legislation was the condition required for foreigners to be able to engage in any economic activity paid in Brazil. Currently, with the new legal framework (Law 13.445 and Decree No. 9.199), the condition for the exercise of remunerated activity is the issuance of authorization of Prior Residence (requested abroad) and Residence (for applicant already in the country) and is different from the humanitarian visa, which is granted to immigrants in situations of political or economic crisis in the country of origin.

Omitted cases – The CNIg annual report also registered 4,801 permits granted to foreigners to work and stay in the country. In these cases, growth was 315% compared to 2016, a year in which 1,156 people received this type of authorization.

“The majority of these authorizations were covered by the old Normative Resolution No. 27, which analyzed special situations and cases not covered by other resolutions,” explains the coordinator and president of the CNIg.

The emissions from this document were mainly Senegalese (2,285) and Haitians (1,244), who settled predominantly in the Southeast and South regions of the country.