São Paulo – Year-on-year in Q1 2024, the number of work visas granted in Brazil to halal slaughterers (who comply with Islamic guidelines) went up. The information was made public by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice’s General Office of Foreign Labor (CGIL, in the Portuguese acronym) in the Federal Gazette, and then compiled by Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, a global immigration services firm. As per numbers relayed to ANBA by Fragomen, Q1 2023 saw 40 work visa applications from halal workers. In Q1 2024, 497 applications were made. In the whole of 2023, 877 visas were granted.
None of the workers who applied for visas year-to-date through April 2024 were Arab: 462 were from Bangladesh, in Asia, and a minority are from Senegal, in Africa, and Pakistan, also in Asia. Of the workers who were granted visas to Brazil in Q1, 12 were from Egypt, the leading Arab source of immigrant workers, with applicants looking to work in glassmaking, energy, and oil, among other trades.
An opportunity for Brazil
“Such a low volume of Arab workers is probably due to the fact that these Arab countries do not have as much capital invested here in Brazil,” Fragomen director of Immigration Diogo Kloper told ANBA. “Brazil seems to be a major exporter of (agribusiness) products in particular, but attracting foreign capital is super important to the development of the country’s economy, and that is tied to the arrival of foreign professionals, but also to jobs creation in the country. Brazil is highly dependent on foreign investment to develop its economy, so this is an opportunity for Brazil right here,” argues Kloper.
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Most of the halal industry workers who were granted work visas to Brazil or had theirs renewed were hired by three companies, all of which operate in halal slaughter or inspection thereof. Fragomen figures also show that by April 5 of this year, 8,244 work visa applications to Brazil were accepted, up from 5,781 from January to March 2023.
Generally speaking, Kloper explains, the work visa application process is handled by the company that is looking to bring a professional into the country. Required documentation includes a certificate of qualification and proof of experience in the desired line of work. The process takes an average of 50 days following submission of documentation to the Ministry of Justice. After getting approval to live and work in Brazil, the applicant must go to their city’s Consulate of Brazil to get the visa added to their passport.
Brazil does not impede any professionals from entering the country, even if workers in the same trade are available locally, but local law prevents any given business from having foreigners exceed a third of their staff. According to Fragomen data, of the six businesses that applied for the most work visas for their workers, three are halal slaughter companies, and three are in the oil industry. Click here to find out more.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
