Lisbon, July 27, 2026 — A study by the Migration Observatory warns of inequalities in the social protection of foreign workers in Portugal. Communities originating from countries without bilateral agreements with the Portuguese Social Security system may not be able to secure the contributory rights accumulated in the country.
According to reports , many foreign workers, especially from countries in the Indian subcontinent, may face difficulties in ensuring that social security contributions made in Portugal are credited if they return to their country of origin.
The investigation arose following concerns raised by the director of the Migration Observatory, Pedro Góis, after the shipwrecks of two fishing vessels in December 2025, in which several foreign workers died. The sociologist questioned whether the families of these fishermen would have access to social protection and whether there were mechanisms to guarantee the rights associated with contributions made in Portugal.
According to the study released by the Observatory, bilateral Social Security agreements define whether contribution periods made in one country can be recognized in another, allowing the continuity of social rights across borders. These mechanisms can ensure the aggregation of contribution periods, the export of certain benefits, and the coordination between different national systems.
However, the document concludes that Portugal presents an “unequal conventional coverage,” since there are migrant communities with different levels of protection depending on their nationality. While some citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries benefit from more comprehensive agreements, other groups of more recent immigrants find themselves in a situation of greater uncertainty.
The study indicates that countries like Brazil and Cape Verde have agreements that guarantee greater predictability in social protection, including areas such as healthcare, family benefits, workplace accidents, and the aggregation of contribution periods. Communities originating from the Asian subcontinent, such as Nepal, Bangladesh, or Pakistan, have no or limited agreements. India is, among the Southeast Asian countries mentioned in the study, the only one that has a bilateral agreement with Portugal.
The Migration Observatory warns that, although foreign workers with legal residence and contributions to the Portuguese Social Security system have access to the benefits provided for in the national system, the absence of international coordination mechanisms may limit the use of these rights in situations of return to the country of origin, re-emigration or mobility between countries.
According to Pedro Góis, this reality creates a "stratified social citizenship," in which workers with similar backgrounds may have different levels of social protection simply due to their country of origin and the existing legal framework between states.
The study identifies three major groups of agreements concluded by Portugal. The first includes conventions of broad scope, such as those with Brazil, Cape Verde, Morocco, Mozambique and Timor-Leste, which cover various areas of social protection, including pensions, sickness, maternity and paternity leave, family allowances, work accidents and occupational diseases.
A second group comprises more limited agreements, such as those made with the United States of America, Canada, and Australia, focused primarily on long-term benefits, such as old-age, disability, and survivor pensions.
There is also a third group of agreements with countries such as Chile, Bolivia, El Salvador, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay, where the main function is to ensure that contribution periods are not lost due to different social protection systems.