Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
https://americasquarterly.org/article/brazils-intensifying-brain-drain-is-a-bad-omen/
SÃO PAULO – At a recent dinner party in São Paulo, a friend who is an executive at a technology company mentioned that he and his wife are planning to move to Lisbon. “The public schools in Portugal are great, it’s totally safe, and I can get almost all my work done remotely,” he said. He added that he expected to fly to São Paulo every month or two, whenever an in-person meeting would be necessary. Several other guests said they, too, were considering taking their families to Lisbon or Miami after having spent several months during the pandemic working from abroad. Indeed, the possibility of working remotely has spurred a debate about leaving Brazil among a growing number of Brazilian executives and entrepreneurs.
Such cases make up only a fraction of the increasing number of Brazilians who go abroad in search of opportunities. The bulk of those leaving the country are less privileged, though emigration is out of reach for the poorest. In 2021, a staggering 17% of Brazilians who traveled abroad did not return, a record high. The number of Brazilians legally residing in Portugal, for example, recently reached a new record of 252,000—a whopping 23% increase compared to last year. The actual number of Brazilians in Portugal is likely half a million, including…
