Data sent to Lusa by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) shows that up to 15 October this year, 93,487 foreigners had settled in Portugal, with professional activity (29,492), family reunification (25,555) and study (8,670) the main reasons for granting new residence permits.

SEF states that in 2020, 188,124 residence permits were issued.

The new immigrants are mostly from Brazil, with 32,574 Brazilians having obtained a residence permit in Portugal for the first time, followed by Indians (6,484), Italians (4,551), French (4,105) and Angolans (3,873).

According to SEF, the municipalities with the highest number of foreign residents are Lisbon, Faro, Setúbal, Porto and Leiria.

The data sent to Lusa also indicates that 48,000 expressions of interest were submitted this year to the SEF, a formal request with this security service to obtain a residence permit, being made through the electronic platform Automatic Pre-Scheduling System (SAPA).

SEF indicates that in 2020 they received 35,500 expressions of interest, most of which were made to work in the country.

In Portugal, 702,214 foreigners live legally, an increase of around 6 percent compared to December 2020, when the total number of immigrants was 662,095.