Finding young people with computer skills is proving to be a surprising challenge for Banco Comercial Portugues SA, a company based in an area dubbed Europe’s hub for digital nomads.
Portugal’s largest listed institution is looking for engineers, mathematicians and digital marketing specialists to develop its online banking system. But in the ten years after the financial crisis there has been a brain drain, leaving the country devoid of youthful talent.
A coalition of the country’s largest private companies, Business Roundtable Portugal, estimates that about 40% of the country’s graduates leave the country every year to find better employment and better life chances elsewhere.
“It is not only difficult to recruit new employees, it is also difficult to retain people,” Banco Comercial Chairman Nuno Amado said in an interview.
The irony is that, despite recent success in attracting foreign residents to the country, the Portuguese government’s policies may have made it more difficult to employ local workers.
Portugal unveiled the D8 visa on October 30, 2022, a new visa that allows digital nomads to work remotely from the country.
Applicants must be remote workers earning at least four times the Portuguese minimum wage, which amounts to approximately $3,350 (€3,040) per month. This visa allows remote workers to live and work in Portugal for up to one year. Alternatively, they can apply for a residence permit and stay in the country longer.
The country’s beautiful coastline and 20% flat tax for non-ordinary residents have attracted wealthy retirees and remote workers. drove up real estate costs and discouraged recent graduates from settling there. This tax incentive was recently eliminated in an effort to reduce real estate prices.
Recent changes to Portuguese tax laws, such as the termination of the Golden Visa program and the upcoming finalization of the non-habitual residence tax regime, have sparked unrest within the expat and digital nomad communities. These adjustments, initially intended to curb foreign investment and address rising costs of living, have inadvertently led to an influx of wealthy foreign individuals seeking to take advantage of current tax breaks before they expire.
