São Paulo – The Brazilian amnesty law for immigrants, which went into force in early July, has benefited 972 Lebanese citizens living in the country. The law regularized the situation of foreigners who were living illegally in Brazil and, according to figures supplied by the Federal Police, has already granted amnesty to 37,687 foreigners. These people are now able to have an ID document in the country, to open bank accounts and to use public medical services and schools.
The information was disclosed by the Brazilian Association of Micro-Cash Transfer Providers (ABMTransf), which does research on remittances of immigrants to their countries of origin. According to the organization, out of all immigrants benefited by the amnesty law, most are Bolivian. They totalled 14,920 people. Second are the Chinese, followed by the Peruvian and the Paraguayan.
The Lebanese are sixth in the ranking. They are followed by the Portuguese, the Senegalese, Chileans, Nigerians and Angolans. According to a survey conducted by the Federal Police, Italians, North Americans, Spanish, French and Germans living illegally in the country have been seeking to regularize their situation.
According to ABMTransf, immigrants living in Brazil shipped US$ 63 million to their countries of origin in October. The figure was 85% higher than in the same month of 2008. According to the organization, the entry into force of the amnesty law collaborated to that increase. The trend of recovery in remittances started being detected in July, precisely when the law was enacted.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
