Fake news or a real result of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency of the United States? RTP has jumped onto the Trump-bashing bandwagon this week by reporting that his newfound position at the head of the Western world is “pushing” Americans to request residency in Portugal.
According to RTP radio station Antena 1, ministry of foreign affairs data shows that the number of American’s interested in moving to Portugal has leapt from 372 in 2015 to 495 last year.
What the figure will be like for 2017 remains to be seen, but if Antena 1’s research is to be believed, the numbers of Americans keen to take up residency “quadrupled” after last November’s web summit in Lisbon and the result of the US elections.
Gilda Pereira, who started her company Ei! – offering support to both emigrants and immigrants – three years ago, told RTP that right after the summit, she was approached by “immense numbers of Americans who were all seeking information on how they could obtain authorisation for residency in Portugal”.
Her next sentence puts a slight edge on the word “immense” however.
Pereira told RTP’s Raquel Morão Lopes that “before November we had eight clients, and now we have 20 for whom we are dealing with the process of residency and fixation in Portugal, plus another 10 requests”.
Many of the reasons for coming to Portugal involve attractions like the weather, the low cost of living and eating out – and then of course there are the “many” that tell Pereira they are “ashamed” of the fact that their country voted in a man who has a ready answer for everything, but apparently very little to back it up.
The latest video of Trump to go viral is worth a quick look (click here), while back in Portugal one of Pereira’s clients Brian Patterson told RTP that Trump’s election to the US presidency has made his idea of moving to Portugal suddenly take on a degree of urgency.
Nonetheless, the station concedes Patterson hasn’t firmed up any of his plans yet.
