Kuragraphy of the Residency Card
-Kishor Subba Limbu
"With a little struggle, the card is possible in Portugal." This is the common struggle, suffering, and faith story of Nepalese immigrants in Portugal. The basic purpose of immigrants in Portugal is to get a Portuguese residency card. Immigrants can obtain a residence permit in Portugal if they follow a certain Portuguese government procedure. A residency card is necessary for employment, business permission, family reunions, and benefiting from Portugal's basic public services. This article will focus on the kuragraphy (an anthropological study done through informal gossip or chat) of Portugal's residency card.
A brief introduction to Portugal
Founded in 868, Portugal is one of the oldest countries in the world. Portugal's population was estimated to be 10,295,909 in 2019 with an area of 92,212 square kilometers.The president of Portugal is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the prime minister is António Costa. The euro is Portugal's currency, 95.3 percent of people speak Portuguese, and 83.3 percent are Christians. Portugal has a per capita income of 34,935. Similarly, the Gini Index (2018) is 31.9, which is medium, while the HDI Index (2018) is 0.850, which is very high, according to Wikipedia.
Portugal, a member of the European Union, has been pursuing a policy since 2007 to increase its revenue by issuing residency cards to immigrants. Even now, residency cards are being issued to immigrants based on the Immigration Act of 2007 with various amendments. Immigrants will be able to apply for Portuguese citizenship five years after receiving their residency card.Similarly, there is an arrangement to apply for a residence permit based on family ties. Apart from this, entrepreneurs and businessmen seem to be encouraged to become Portuguese citizens with special arrangements.
In general, Portugal encourages foreign students, entrepreneurs, and professionals who have special knowledge and skilled manpower to obtain residency permits and citizenship security number, andunder the Immigrant Act. Immigrants who have formally entered the territory of Portugal can work after receiving the Portuguese tax payer number (NIF- numero de identificao fiscal), Social Security number (NISS- numero de identificao seguranca social). There is a provision to open a personal account in the online portal of SEF (The Foreigners and Borders Service) of Portugal by submitting a taxpayer number, social security number, passport, and other official documents for application of the residence permit in Portugal. It usually takes one/one and a half year to complete the process and get a residence permit. Besides this, immigrants who enter Portugal without formal documents can apply for a residence permit by completing certain special legal procedures.
The Card Making Ritual
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| Photo Source: Google Image |
According to anthropologists Ven Zennep's (1960) "Rites of Passage" and Victor Turner's (1966) theory of "The Ritual Process," "card making" is considered a pure ritual for immigrant Nepalis living in Portugal without Portuguese citizenship. In this situation, it makes no difference who was in Nepal, what caste he used to belong to, his religion, or his previous professions, social, political, or social status. As an immigrant in Portugal, he has no choice but to follow Portugal's immigration policy's rules and regulations. Turner (1966) interpreted it as "betwixt and between." This is either from the past or the future, the period of "liminality." In this period, they are all "communitas," or of equal status. Individual responsibilities are sometimes assumed to be changed or reversed during this period of transition. From this point of view, even people of high political and social status in Nepal are looking for jobs with ordinary people in Nepal, working under them, living in rented houses in Nepal, living in rented apartments in Portugal, etc.
The card has multiple meanings.
"There is a lot of hardship in Portugal; we have to face lots of struggle, but what to do? We have to grieve for the card." For the anthropologist Clifford Greetz (1973), "Thick Description," card making has multiple meanings. The insider's view or common narration made by Nepalese immigrants about making the card or making the card as a ritual is that they perceived the card making as a grand ritual for the immigrant.Card-making has the meaning of regularization, assimilation, obtaining Portuguese public facilities, and the like. For the Nepalese immigrants, the card has cultural meaning, economic meaning, and social meaning. To some extent, it would be the political meaning, achievement, or beginning of European life that means the betterment of life and a secure future. Therefore, the receiving card for the Nepalese immigrants in Portugal is considered a start to happiness (personal freedom, employment opportunities, education, health, fundamental rights, security, etc.) and prosperity (a secure future).
Portugal as an alternative to Europe
"I came to Portugal knowing that the card would be possible." The common answer of Nepalese immigrants to the question "Why are you in Portugal?" The estimated skyway distance from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Lisbon, Portugal, is 8,887 sq km. Nepalese immigration to Portugal is a recent phenomenon. The new generation of Nepalese imagines Europe as the first world, the source of happiness and prosperity, and the embodiment of the European way of life.To achieve that, the process of applying for a residence card and citizenship in Portugal is easier than in other European countries; because of this, Nepalese arrive in Portugal from different routes and channels.
According to the Department of Foreign Employment of the Government of Nepal, Portugal seems to be one of the approved destination countries for foreign employment. However, the mass of Nepalese who arrive in Portugal as secondary destinations from the Schengen countries have a more direct connection to the Portuguese labour market than those with a primary destination in Portugal. Nepalese who enter Schengen countries
They enter Portugal with a student visa, visit visa, family reunion visa, cultural and political visa, and the Residency Card to regulate their immigrant status.Apart from this, many different stories exist of people coming to Portugal through the long route, crossing borders through the jungle in various Portuguese territories. Some of them came riding trucks and hiding in containers to enter Portuguese territory, among other things.
Manika Bajracharya (2015) quotes SEF in her postgraduate dissertation: "There are only two Nepalese who had obtained residency cards in Portugal by 2000." According to SEF 2019, there are 16,849 Nepalese who have obtained residency permits in Portugal.
Nepalese in Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal's capital city, has the highest number of 10,080 (SEF, 2019) Nepalese immigrants. A large number of Nepalese are present in the city of Lisbon. Nepalese goods are also available for almost everything in the markets around Lisbon. Nepalese restaurants, mini-markets, fruit shops, travel agencies, consultancies, money transfers, cyber, etc.
The Nepalese Consulate in Portugal is an authorised government office of Nepal. The consulate authenticates government documents and facilitates the foreign diplomacy of Nepal. It works under the Nepali embassy in France. Apart from this, there are more than 35 Nepalese social organizations, including NRNA, a foreign branch of various parties, the indigenous federation, the journalists' association, ethnic organizations, regional organizations, and rights advocacy organizations.
Nepalese Diaspora in Portugal
The Nepalese Diaspora varies according to the host country's political, economic, and immigration policies. There is literature published in the study about different Nepalese diasporas. For instance, "Nepalese Diaspora in a Globalized Era," edited by Tank Subba and Sinha (2015), "Global Nepalis," edited by David Glner and Hansur (2018), and "Kagaj Banaune," a PhD dissertation by Tina Shrestha (2014)
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| Photo Source: Google Image |
Alexandra Cristina Pereira (2019), a Portuguese social sciences researcher, has completed her PhD dissertation on "the sociological study of Nepalese entrepreneurs living in Portugal." Apart from this, Nepalese students Abhas Dangol (2015), Manika Bajracharya (2015), Sanjeev Dahal (2016), and Asmita Budal (2018), under the Erasmus Student Exchange Program at the Universities of Portugal, conducted social studies on Nepali immigrants in Portugal for their postgraduate dissertations.
The multidimensional social studies of the Nepalese Diaspora's tangible and intangible lifeworld in Portugal are understudied. The Nepalese Diaspora in Portugal has its own uniqueness and differences from the Nepalese Diaspora in other countries. Some major facts that make the Nepalese Diaspora in Portugal differ from the other Nepalese Diasporas are:
A. Despite a large number of Nepalese immigrants in Portugal, there is no presence of the Embassy of the Government of Nepal.
B. Lisbon has a sense of mini-Nepal. Nepalese goods (Nepalese restaurants, Nepalese goods and products markets) are available.
C. Most of the Nepalese immigrants in Portugal have higher education (a bachelor's degree or higher). More or less, they do belong to a middle-class or upper-class family in Nepal.
D. There are 35 more Nepalese social-worker communities, associations, and organisations in Portugal related to ethnic, regional, political, professional, and social cooperation.
E. complicated to access in the Portuguese labour market, and the basic salary facility is more or less substantive for an individual.
F. Immigrants in Portugal can regularise their immigration status by applying for a residency card, so there is no hassle of living and fighting illegally, becoming an asylum seeker or refugee for the card, or expanding relations with Portuguese citizens for the card.
G. The main purpose of Nepalese immigrants in Portugal is to obtain a residency card, Portuguese citizenship, or passport, and go to the potential high-income destinations with their Portuguese passports. It works out with transit psychology.
The number of Nepalese children in Portugal has increased significantly as children born in Portugal and children born in Nepal can also be brought to Portugal. Nepalese parents living in Portugal as family members can be invited on a family reunification visa after receiving the residency card. Etc.
Finally,
Most Nepalese don't have a straight answer to "why you are in Portugal." "What will happen after receiving the residency card?" and "What next, after card-citizenship-passport?" There are many Nepalese who arrived in Portugal without any information about the card's procedure or benefits. Another problem is the language. The majority of Portuguese prefer to communicate in Portuguese, including those in government and public offices, employers, and other everyday businesses.Most Nepalese are suffering from a lack of the Portuguese language.
Therefore, it would be better for an individual to study the destination countries' general information, like language, currency, weather, cultural and social settings, and the like. Then he should be clear on his objectives: what is he there for? How is that even possible?And what if it doesn't happen as planned, or what happens next?and the like. Individuals travelling with the destination's general information and travelling with an objective may reduce suffering and make achieving the goal easier.
Thank you.
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