Macau, China, Feb. 12, 2025 - The number of applications for residency in Macau made by Portuguese nationals and approved by the authorities in the Chinese semi-autonomous region fell last year, according to data from the territory's Public Security Police (PSP), following the imposition of restrictions on immigration from Portugal.
Just 20 residency applications were submitted by Portuguese citizens to Macau's migration authorities last year and, of these, 13 or 65% were approved, reported public broadcaster Teledifusão de Macau (TDM) on Tuesday, citing data from the PSP.
In 2023, there had been 56 applications, of which 52 (92%) were given the green light.
Since August 2023, Macau has not accepted new applications for Portuguese residency for the "exercise of specialised technical functions" as was possible in the past - now allowing only justifications of family reunion or previous connection to the territory.
The guidelines eliminate a practice that was established after the handover of Macau from Portugal to China in 1999, with Portuguese nationals able to secure a Resident Identity Card (BIR) by applying for specific programmes to attract qualified staff.
Another option is to issue a 'blue card’ - an authorisation limited to employment, without the benefits enjoyed by residents, namely in terms of health and education.
TDM reported that it had attempted to find out from the authorities the reasons for the fall in the proportion of applications approved, but received no reply.
The ratio for 2024 is also lower than during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Macau implemented strict restrictions, including border closures.
In 2022, Portuguese citizens submitted 32 residence applications, with the authorities approving 31 (96%); in 2021 there were 20 applications, with 17 receiving a favourable assessment (85%), and in 2020 - which includes 2021 processes - 56 applications were submitted and the approval rate was 100%.
Going back to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, the authorities granted 112 of the 116 applications, an approval rate of 96%.
Regarding the authorities' new guidelines for the arrival of specialised technicians from Portugal, the latter country's consul general in Macau, Alexandre Leitão, said in December that it indicated a change in approach.
"Obviously, this decision was a sign," he said. "And it's a sign that can be read, like all signs.
"And a sudden change, after the Covid-19 [pandemic] - at a time when people were talking about recovery and the need for economic diversification, when that means in any city in the world and in China itself, openness," he added. "Let's say that we have the right to look at this sign as something frustrating and contrary to our expectations, and above all difficult to understand given the moment and the fact that objectively few Portuguese come from Portugal to look for Macau."
Leitão said that he believed it was "in the region's interest to be able to benefit from the qualified contribution of more Portuguese."
The 2021 censuses show more than 2,200 people born in Portugal then living in Macau. The last estimate given to Lusa by the Consulate General of Portugal pointed to around 155,000 holders of Portuguese passports among the residents of Macau and Hong Kong.
CAD/ARO // ARO.
Lusa
