Portugal - Modern slavery for an EU passport | DW Documentary 

As a portuguese living near the area where that is happening is really upset to see how locals mistreat and under pay people working so hard, sad as it is , its Portugal , not only foreigners are being underpaid .. We all are.. Its a Paradise of fake dreams .

Slavery wasn't abolished. Just changed its form. Got upgraded to modern times

Just when you think that you're having a rough day, imagine what it's like to be one of these workers.

It’s ironic. Over fifty years ago, Portuguese citizens like my parents escaped Portugal to find economic prosperity in North America. They too worked in harsh conditions, leaving their children behind in order to improve their financial situation. In time, as their prospects improved, families were reunited and the next generation benefitted from all the sacrifices. Poverty creates the same trend in every generation.

Thank you DW for covering my country's issues.

4€ an hour is the minimum wage in Portugal, thats no low cost labor, its normal labor for any Portuguese. ps : for those that dont know math, 4€/h x 8h/day * 22 days = 704€ . food subsidy is not obligated by the companies, minimum wage in Portugal is 665€ without taxes, also in the video, they say they are all in SS and finances, so, they are paying taxes and working legaly like any Portuguese citizen. with this im not defending how they came, what they paid or are paying to be here working, or the company that brought them, or some companies that use them iligally, im stating that they are working legaly with a normal salary in Portugal. this piece should be about the companies that bring them here, thats where the problem is.

2:29 You should have blurred the numbers and details on his ID, for safety reasons, especially the civil ID number. Please do that.

I have an uncle who went to portugal in a similar way , these conditions are better than the gulf but still I personally know many of these companies take passports, don't pay them their wages , don't provide adequate housing and use various forms of threats to them and the family and all this is a form of modern slavery (exemplified by the fear the people exhibit) and that happening in the eu is disheartening

I'm portuguese. I've worked for 2,35€/hour not so long ago, as legal job. The problem is, you can augment salary but prices will skyrocket immediately. It's also very convenient to keep Portugal that way because many European countries profit from our cheap labor...

18:20 "They'll need more workers too, for jobs Portuguese people don't want to do" - he's trying to say the locals are too lazy to work in agriculture. What he actually means is "companies prefer hiring immigrants who are abused and paid poorly, so that they can be competitive on the market and have a good profit". It's not slavery if you fire them for not meeting their quota once or if they complain about the long hours and living conditions, as long as you pay them a few euros/hour.

"We all paid 10000€ to come here". If person makes such sum of money in India, there is no sense to come to Portugal or other European country.

I like how the guy at 9:48 has Badoo installed on his phone while calling with his wife and kid back in home

At least they all are apparently much better treated than in South Italy which modern slavery is beyond inhuman in the hard work of picking tomoatoes.

As an Indian, I really feel bad for these workers who come to Europe in search of a life better than what they have back home but it seems that the grass is as bad on the other side. Living for years away from their family and children for a pittance is such a tragedy. Great documentary, DW!!

As a portuguese Im really sad to hear this. Theres so many stories about the horrible conditions. I personally have meet people from nepal and India working in this industry and they go months without payments and living in metal boxes. As per the amount paid, 4€/hour is more then the minimal wage, but I know that half of it is cut because of accommodations and food, since most of the bosses provided those, although under curious conditions. I have nothing against people going for another country to seek work and a better life. But it reach a point where is to much and our government doesn't see that. Instead of making laws and regulations so Portuguese work force can stay in our country, they put harsher conditions and taxes on us. So the only way is to seek work force somewhere else. Theres more to this then meets the eye. Lawyer firms also make a huge profit doing business with the agencies. I personally have friends who work as a lawyers that helps get all the paper work done. The thing is there dozens of thousands of people here that don't speak the language, have no connection to the culture or want to be integrated some how, and I honestly don't know what the future holds. Sad thing this is all due to the European market, spealy in central and northern Europe, that cant grow nothing.

I'm grateful that I was born in a country that joined the EU 5 years after I was born. I am grateful that I don't have to suffer war or inhumane work conditions, and I think it's my responsibility to donate money to organizations that help people in such a predicament. Greetings from Poland

Why is this bad? These people are working legally, are paying taxes and social security, seems like a far better deal than crossing an desert with literal cartel sicarios. But what do I know right

4 an hour matches closely the minimum wage Portuguese receive + the government gives citizenship. If anything, this video shows Portugal has a greater respect for immigrants than the richer countries.

I'm brazilian and I worked in Portugal for a year in 2022. As I speak english and portuguese is my mother tongue, it was easy to find a job in a restaurant/bar in a touristic area in Lisbon. I worked a lot, 6 days a week. I worked night shifts for making about 1000 euros monthly. My great grandfather was portuguese. I could not get the passport by descendance because it was already 2 generations. Fortunately, I could get the passport by descendance in another european member state. It takes a lot effort and hard work to become a citizen and have some stability.

😭😭 I feel exactly what he is talking about. My sister was stuck in Portugal, similar cycle, only her condition was much better since she worked as a Yoga Teacher. But being stuck abroad with false information for over 3 1/2 years and finally loosing our dad, not able to meet him I know the pain what they are saying. She finally got cleared, got her Card, is home now for vacation. But we all want to move away for a better life in the hopes of finding a better future. But I can imagine the hard days alone in a strange country, with no hope of coming home. She was promised a swift process, 3 months maximum by her employer, which lasted over 3 years in the end. :(

Thank you DW for the diligent work in covering this issues!

DW with the usual hyperbolic shananigans against southern European countries... I remember back in 2011 Germany was offering 400 € per month to Portuguese people who wanted to migrate to Germany to do jobs that nobody else would do, keep in mind that the lowest salaries being paid at the time in Germany were over 1200€ per month. The hypocrisy of DW is unbelievable. At least they are being paid according to the Portuguese minimum wage. The working conditions for fruit pickers are always bad, because the job is hard.

Nothing but respect for these men who give up everything to give a better life to their families

Watching your kids grow on whatsapp is not foreign...I'm doing that as we speak,I'm Kenyan working in Qatar...a single mother and raised in serious poverty so really this kind of life requires strength from above..working 16hrs per day seeing my family once in a year...no other life apart from work because at the end of the day I'm so tired and stressed...haven't dated in the past 5yrs 🤦 sacrifices my friends

I'm from Germany and now I know where the raspberries come from, that I often buy in the supermarket. I recognised the label. It's sad that consumers most of the time don't know how their food is produced and what effects it can have to support this but I suppose that it is the same with 90% of the fruit and veggies you can buy and with meat it might be even worse because there you have to consider the animal's suffering in addition.

Foreign Passport has become a coveted 'Status Symbol' in Punjab. The state faces 'Development Paradox', meaning well off people are most eager to move abroad. It's a psychological issue

When a PM goes to TV and when confronted about unemployment on Portuguese, tells the unemployed to emigrate and right after starts with this measures, you can see how much they appreciate their citizens.

The Portuguese embassies in the countries where these workers come from should step in and recruit these workers through the governnents of these countries . This may not completely eliminate the human smugglers but shall definitely clip their claws.

Some corporate executive sitting on a yacht wondering, how can we pay them less so I can get a bigger yacht?

"jobs that Portuguese ppl don't want to do" that's not true, we want! But we don't want to receive 5€ per hour, and I am not saying the problem is the person who accepts the 5€ hours I am saying that the companies are to blame because they only want to pay 5€ per hour.

Why doesn't the Portuguese government just offer a legal $15,000 visa for migrant workers? Just make it official.

I'm sorry to inform but 4€ per hour or less in Portugal is what many people are getting paid. Portugal does not have an economy like the UK and its not hard to see people getting paid like this. Furthermore monitoring performance and pick times for the workers is done in many companies around the globe

That´s a insult , calling slaves people who honestly work on a minimum wage and pay their taxes ... most of those people are not looking for any EU passport , they are looking to make money and go back to their families in their country.

If moving to Portugal, working for minimum wage, to qualify for a passport is “slavery”, then why don’t we consider McDonalds slavery? They work for minimum wage and don’t get Passports.

Thanks for shedding a light on this, sadly it's not just specific sectors or nationalities - even highly skilled workers in tech such as myself who's not Asian - face serious hurdles to change employees in Belgium, for example; work permits take 3 months to change into new employer's sponsorship -- during which you're not allowed to work...This discourages workers from changing employers and getting a fair market salary under the pressure of high cost of living and paying rent / bills.

I can respect these guys for making an honest living. Thank you for making the world a better place.

The Indian middleman, as well, lives off the exploitation of his fellow migrants. The whole system is one big chain of exploitation

4 euro per hour is also the minimum wage in Poland and no one calls it slavery 😂 and you also have taxes deducted from it

Speaking Portuguese proficiently is not something mandatory…. In Portugal we have a LOT OF CORRUPTION

In Australia raspberry picking can pay between 20 - 40€ an hour depending on how fast the picker gets the fruit off.

You could make a similar documentary focusing on many different parts of the world where the situation of guest workers is much, much worse. For example, the entire Arabian Gulf region is kept functioning by tens of millions of foreign workers that live in conditions that would make Portugal look like a Club Med resort. In those places, unlike Portugal, those workers have zero chance at attaining a local passport , have zero rights or protection under the local courts, and are entirely beholden to their employers, a lot of whom take advantage of this to either mistreat, sexually abuse, or not pay their employees. Of course, the root cause of these workers being in this situation in the first place is the lack of opportunity and possibility of any sort of advancement in their home countries. Wouldn't it be great if it wasn't only developed countries that cared about human rights, equity, progress or equality for its citizens?

10,000 euros is almost 1milion in any poor country. Would it not be more practical to start a small business, than trade it for hours of back breaking manual labor, to get a passport that still doesn't guarantee you'll make it? While still having to repay the money you borrowed to get there?

Eye opening. Workers must have their rights. They should be treated humanly.

100€ per person in rent, in the Portuguese market, is relatively accurate. In some places in Portugal, a bed will cost you 250€, a room 400€ and a flat 900-1200€ depending on the size... It's not excusing the practice, it's just being a realist.

Thank you for shedding light on the appalling conditions these workers live in!

It warmed my heart to see how this man is able to support his family and extensive family, but paying agency harvest workers a couple of euros per hour is unethical.

Thanks very much for the enlightenment

Thank you for raising such issue... Thank You Uploader...👍🏻

The only problem I have is the high price they have to pay to be put on European ground. From other comments it's evident that the hourly wage is while not being decent is still fine.

Kudos Mr. Rosenberg! Excellent interview and such composure.

Thanks for posting

Literally the same applies to my father who is married to a Portuguese citizen. Also we have friends who bought land and one is not a citizen. To become one he had to invest and has to visit every year for 7 years as well as speak proficiently.

Thank you DW very informative and for keeping the comment section open.

4 euros for 1 hour ? wow, thats 4 times more than my salary in turkey. how can ı be slave in portugal ? ( im serious btw)

I’m from one of the former soviet states and fortunately I didn’t have to work a manual labor but I was working on an extremely demanding low paying job in the Czech Republic for many years before I was eligible for JUST a permanent residency, now after 11 years of living here I’m finally eligible to only APPLY for a citizenship/passport and even then there’s a risk they will reject my application. When I explain it to some people from the West or other privileged passport countries they simply don’t get it. They don’t understand how people of the “third world” are constantly abused just because they were born in a different country and decided to seek more passport freedom.

What I'm about to say may be controversial, but it's the truth and it shocked me deeply... Overcrowded houses, poor conditions, the stress created due to working conditions, and the creation of small groups among the migrants themselves have an impact on the rest of the community. Every year, me and several of my friends go to some sort of Youth Event in one of the towns mentioned in the video (not going into details regarding the type of event or specific municipality, but I want to make it clear that I am not talking about summer festivals, the event had an educational aspect). About 5 years ago, in the first time that I attended that event we could see some immigrants - but only a few - in the town and there were never any problems, neither with them or with the locals; we could go out at night without preocupations or a slight sensation of fear. The second year I attended that Youth Event, we could see more immigrants and some of their stores, but, again, no problems with them or with the population (some were even very friendly). All of that changed on the next year. We headed to Alentejo to share experiences, hang out with each other, learn, have some peace, breathe the "countryside air", etc. However, on the first day we set foot there, we were told by some of the locals to watch out when we went out. They (the locals and even the organizers) advised the girls to not go out alone, to go in a group and preferably with boys, because of incidents that happened before. We were also told to avoid any trouble whatsoever.The organizers even reinforced the "security" measures (on a surveillance level). I was shocked with that. The years before looked like a fairytale compared to what we were told. Some more "radical" locals said that they were already being treated like the "foreigners" by the immigrants that now were a majority. I didn't want to believe any of that, but when I went out with my friends, I saw things that made me understand the warnings. I am not saying the Government should deport them, but they should, at least, try to mitigate these contiditions and provide some seminars/classes regarding the new culture that the immigrant workers are going to live in. I know that the poor conditions they live in and the stress they have to go through can change their temperament and that can lead to a more impulsive behaviour, but these are things that need to be addressed. I would like to go again one day to that same event and go out with my friends without fear and hang out with the locals and the workers that are there, like we used to do, but from what I saw the last year that I went there, I have few hopes...

Really important documentary that shows in this one place so much that is wrong with the global economic system and the toxic culture that creates and is created by it. Large environmentally damaging plantations - which deplete the aquifers of a dry region - exploiting the labour of poor people who have little choice but to pay criminals to get into a far away country so as to find a way to support their families, all done so that some international companies and a minority of designer shirt wearing local business owners can make a fortune by providing northern European's with the extreme privilege of eating fruits out of season at a price which is completely unreflective of the environmental and human cost of their production.

It’s an appealing prospect for some people especially those from low income nations hoping for a better pay and life, but this kind of jobs are poorly paid and lots of working hours with little to no benefits

Good documentary!

That’s odd why wouldn’t they ask Brazilians or Angolans who already know the language.

DW is one of the Best People's Channels !!!

DW has the serious journalism & documentary stuff we no longer have in the US

DW is just legendary

I am Portuguese, and unfortunately 4€/h is the average for most native people too, the whole country is underpaid and overworked, it's not an issue for just the immigrants. Immigrants generally agree to work for less money out of necessity, so companies prefer to hire them instead of natives. This prevents the overall increase in salaries because companies have an easy alternative for cheap labor, so they are not forced to improve working conditions and wages in order to hire native people. It's a very serous problem that is making plenty of native portuguese people unemployed.

Watch a report on forest berry pickers in Sweden. They fly in from east Asia for the berry season and hope that they can earn enough to pay for the airfare, room and board, and have some left over to bring back to their families. So if the season is bad, they are screwed. The berry company pays them "under the table". No path to residency or anything, they are on tourist visas not workers. Or how about a report on North Korean workers in Poland? Ironically, some of them work in shipyards fixing NATO military vessels. Obviously, the situation with Portuguese workers is crappy with crooked work agencies, " smugglers", etc. But there are even worse things going on in EU. At least Portugal "recognizes" the reality of the need/existence of such labor, and provides an immigration path.

I am a Portuguese woman living in the Netherlands for 22 years. in a short time i want to return to portugal with all the knowledge i received from the netherlands. My job in recent years has been to oversee company rules and workers' rights and make those two things positive for both sides. I just don't know if there is this type of organization in Portugal and how to get there. I can make a difference...

People, no one is saying what Portugal is doing is wrong. The slavery, the video talks about is how the mafia makes them do Any work, sometimes doesnt pay them, holds their passports etc. Portugal is never blamed in the video, they are mentioned as the only country where they can gain legal status.

you don't realize that Portugal is actually quiet generous with the workers...............they offer citizenship with just 7 yrs of harvest work. My neighbor lived in uae for 28 yrs and he got nothing. However compared to India he was earning more than our national average so i think he did well

Slavery is forced labor without consent nor wages. This isn't slavery. They have a dream or a plan and they work hard for it.

Unbelievable they paid 10 thousand Euro or more to go to Portugal , why not use that money to make a business in their own Countries ?! It does not make sense .

India's facination to go abroad is astonishing. A farmer from punjab which is most fertile land can do much more than working in factory 70hrs a week

In Latin America you pick a huge basket of coffee berries, which takes hours…you receive 1 dollar for that basket. There’s no hourly rate for that work in general.

If people can pay 10,000 or 20,000 Euros to immigrate to a country in hopes of better life, why don’t they stay in their countries & invest the money in business startups? That’s a lot of money to pay for uncertainty & exploitation.

LOL, I'm portuguese, my brother works at that very establishment you've used to do your take on the matter.... And "SLAVERY" in the title is at the very least misleading. But from a german point-of-view in a quick take in you medium, it's not surprising.

✨🌎 Excellent Field Reporting DW Documentarian

That's why investigative journalism is so important on shedding light to this world overshadowed by greed and immorality.

That happens in EVERY EU country, including GERMANY. Portugal as most EU countries need more people to keep its economies incited and those seem "available".

What I want to know is why do they have to pay so much money to get a tourist visa? Can’t they simply apply for one at the consulate or government office? If Portugal needs those workers so bad why don’t they help people in those countries get visa’s. Maybe set up an office in Punjab India with one Portuguese boss plus hire a few locals to help with paperwork and help those people that want to work in Portugal. Also, get rid of all those middlemen and mafia and subcontractors. Just run it directly, they could even charge €1,000 to cover costs. It would be cheaper for the workers, give the government more control and oversight and eliminate the criminal element from the process.

Now you have to make a documentary about all of the imigrants who got their citizenchip in 2/3 years trough corrutpion in the portuguese service for foreign and borders. Thousands of those cases too.

Thank Mr.Alberto for sincerely helping these immigration work at this difficult time.

What about the situation in Spain or France? It's way worse on those countries, but you never show anything on them... just look at those greenhouses near Almería (Southern Spain), visible from space!

DW: *welcomes human trafficking through Poland* Also DW: *against human trafficking through Portugal*

Great 👍 documentary

We currently live in Paris and there are so many Portuguese here ,they work here because they are much cheaper than the local. Just feel shocked that in Portugal there are so many cheaper foreigner labors.

lots of Indians from Goa got Portuguese citizenship and settled in the UK before Brexit!

£8.71per hr is Min wage in UK 🇬🇧 But £9 per hr is norm! To be honest I am glad to see South Asian as hard workers Not carry out drug or criminal activities.

Desejo que as autoridades do meu país actuem e ponham fim às novas formas de escravatura. Infelizmente enquanto o Mundo for bipolar, paises ricos vs pobres, estas situações vão continuar. Aveiro, Portugal 🇵🇹

Well, Deutschland has been using people the same way for the last 7 decades, l like DW for critical journalism, yet it should approach issues from various angles.

Migrants being abused beyond the local and common laws is something that is seen althroughout Europe (including Germany, in the catering industry, and less automated background industries), and needs to be regulated at EU level, because if a country does it, then so "must" others to keep prices competitive. Also, we allow goods to come from outside slave work industries (China, India, Paquistan - trade taxes should be tied to human rights always) without reasonable additional tax, making a mockery of our values and economic chaos to locals producers, just so countries like Germany can keep the CCP happy and willing to make business. Particularly, plenty of portuguese companies failed to use modernization funds from the EU (corruption and fraud, from the public and private sectors), hence some portuguese farming companies now fail to compete with automated systems, "having" to rely on such schemes. This isn't the case in all portuguese agriculture, as I've heard plenty of reports of the downsides of this business models (it has been documented since the 18th century that slave work is often less enomically effective) and was heavily criticized by the portuguese reporters who broke the story and is in judicial process at the moment. Sad.

What is happening to these workers is exactly the same thing that happened to Portuguese who fanned across Europe during the 1960's for a better life. What do you think were the working and living conditions for Portuguese in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany? People sacrifice, work hard in the hope for a better life in the future. Which most achieve. Migrant workers are in Portugal because of what the Portuguese passport will make possible, their move to greener pastures in the rest of Europe. I admit modern traffikers of people have gotten more sophisticated, and more costly than in the past, but it is always the same, workers are always willing to pay, to assure themselves of a better life. What is happening in Portugal is not unique. There are millions of people across the globe who would give their right arm to be admited to Portugal to work in berry farms under those conditions. Go investigate the working conditions of the millions from Asia who work in the Middle East. At least a berry farm worker in Portugal can attain Portuguese Nationality. Can you you say the same the for any foreigner working Dubai, Qatar or Abu Dabi. How many have died building the stadiums for the Qatar World Cup?

Thank you for this insightful documentary. A question that is still open though is, why do indian citizens (or at least those mentioned in the documentary) have to pay €10-15k for a tourist visa in Portugal? From my research this costs around €80. This would definitely help understand the issue better. Thanks.

Well, if it makes everyone feel better, everyone in Portugal is severely underpaid and the companies and bosses that occupy this country are usually miserable, the government isnt helping either.

Low wages means less rent,less food cost,less travel cost. People earn in london 10£ an hour but struggle to live london because of rent,food,travel cost is very high.

I'm Portuguese 4,16 euros it's the GROSS minimum salary in Portugal 2021. What they pay to the smaglers on their countries it's for their countries to solve.

it's the same here in Canada with mexican workers, although here, most have very little chances of getting PR or citizenship as a temporal workers.

In the Czech Republic it’s 10 years of working and staying there legally to get the citizenship. If you want a permanent residence (which you get after 5 years) and you are a student, 1 year of staying in the CZ counts like 0,5 😢

Haha why that guy care about how many visa free countries you can go with eu passport 🤣 I have eu passport, but cannot afford to travel

Those jobs weren’t Portuguese jobs, since those are plantations built by multinationals that are destroying our soil.

4 Euros a hour is bad? Yeah they're not the only ones getting that kind of pay. There's more than a million people in Portugal, (Portuguese nationals born and raised), getting the same pay

Its important to remember that the conditions back in Nepal and India are also desperately poor. Its easy to feel sorry for people working these hours for this pay and conditions, but back in India chances are they would be working in much worse conditions still.. anyone who has visited rural India will know exactly what I mean!