Praia, June 12, 2026 (Lusa) - Immigrants in Cabo Verde from other African countries have shared concerns with Lusa about opportunities for improved living and working conditions after arriving, despite promises of good jobs and the prospect of reaching Europe.
A 33-year-old Nigerian woman travelled to Cabo Verde around 10 months ago, after selling her car and paying €800 to an intermediary who promised her work and accommodation as a carer for an elderly person.
“My sister, who works at the airport in Nigeria, started seeing lots of people travelling to Cabo Verde,” she explained, preferring to remain anonymous, a reflection of the challenging situation she has overcome.
Back home, someone “said she was in charge of an agency that handled the whole process”.
Upon arrival in Praia, she found she needed to navigate independently.
Unable to speak Creole and with no local contacts, the adjustment was challenging.
“I was walking around the neighbourhoods,” looking for help and work, she said, and months later, she eventually found a job with the support of the African community living in the country – she now works as a domestic worker, on a salary of 24,000 escudos (€218) with a contract and registration with the National Social Security Institute (INPS).
“Now I’m more settled, and I’m going to stay here,” she said.
However, some people take time to adjust and even express regret: Celestino Dias, from the Guinean association Cabaz di Terra, which operates in Cabo Verde’s capital, says that many arrive “with false hopes” and end up in the informal sector, without a contract or protection.
“Some companies take advantage of them, and they accept whatever they can find, because they have families to support,” he says, noting that it is most common to see women working as street vendors or domestic workers and men in construction or as night watchmen.
An immigrant from Guinea-Bissau spoke to Lusa in one of Praia’s neighbourhoods, where he works paving streets.
“I was a trader in Guinea-Bissau, but a friend told me there was good money to be made here. When I arrived, I realised it was different. The work is very hard,” he said.
He arrived in the archipelago two years ago, imagining he could earn a wage of 70,000 escudos (€634) in construction – a far cry from reality.
“A labourer earns around 1,000 escudos (€9) a day and, with experience, up to 2,000 (€18),” he explained, also pointing to frequent delays in wage payments, which make it challenging for him to send money to his wife and four children in Guinea-Bissau.
Under the blazing sun, he and four other workers spend hours bent over, laying out cobblestones, without protective equipment, and note that they are unable to afford treatment for headaches and other common ailments.
In another neighbourhood of Praia, another worker, who had been a bricklayer in Guinea-Bissau, was persuaded by a friend to travel to the archipelago, where he hoped to earn around 30,000 escudos (€272) a month.
“I’ve never had a contract and wages are almost always late,” he said, adding that he has been living in the country for almost a year and that at home he has only “the bare essentials to survive”.
Another worker said he accepted an offer from a construction company, but the job lasted only three months.
“Back home, I earned more. Here I sometimes find it hard to eat properly,” he said.
José Ramos Viana, president of the African Community Platform, highlights networks that recruit fraudulently in countries of origin and even foster the idea that it will be easier to reach European countries.
“They promise the world, take the money, and when people arrive, nobody shows up. They are criminal organisations,” he said.
Exploitation “has been taking place within the communities themselves”, particularly among Nigerians, who take advantage of the lack of knowledge of those arriving.
There are also cases of document forgery, with promises to facilitate travel to Portugal in exchange for payment.
According to José Ramos Viana, there is a misconception that Cabo Verde can be used as a springboard to Europe.
“Many have no documents, cannot assert their rights and end up accepting low wages and late payments,” he said, pointing to difficulties with integration, language and discrimination.
Cabo Verde’s Inspector-General of Labour, Anildo Fortes, acknowledged signs of risk in recruitment agencies, where supposed employers may end up “taking advantage of this relationship”.
He highlighted the construction industry as one of the most critical sectors, due to high levels of informality and staff turnover: “These are workers who frequently change jobs, which makes monitoring difficult”.
Nevertheless, he says the authorities conduct monitoring in coordination with the National Police, the High Authority for Immigration, and the National Observatory against Human Trafficking.
Lusa sought further clarification from the Ministry of Social Inclusion, the High Authority for Immigration and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), but did not receive a response.
Cabo Verde’s government and the business sector have been highlighting the need to address a labour shortage, driven, among other factors, by emigration to destinations such as Portugal in search of better opportunities.
To address this shortage, the government has said that the country needs to prepare to recruit and integrate foreign workers.
RS/ADB // ADB.
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