Refugees face challenges integrating into Portugal’s labor market, ranked as the 4th most precarious in Europe for foreign workers
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the world has witnessed the largest displacement crisis since World War II. Among the millions forced to flee, more than six million Ukrainians have been registered across Europe, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Portugal has taken in only around 60,000 of them — still they are the country’s largest refugee community. Three years into the conflict, many are still struggling to rebuild their lives in the new country. And, as best they can, reclaim a sense of normalcy. Between the memory of what was lost and the uncertainty of what lies ahead, work has become a very important part of their lives — not only for financial survival, but for a feeling of belonging.
And the chance to dream again.
Reinventing paths
Starting over comes with no shortage of challenges. Language barriers are the first obstacle, compounded by the difficulty of having degrees and qualifications recognized in a very bureaucratic country as Portugal claims to be. This often limits refugees’ access to better pay and to jobs aligned with their training.
The story of Viktoriia Stovbun illustrates the resilience required to adapt. In Ukraine, she worked as a hotel receptionist. In Portugal, she stayed in the industry, but in cleaning services, far from the front desk. She is not yet fluent in Portuguese enough to speak to costumers.
What seemed like an opportunity, soon turned into what she feels as an exploitation. “One person had to clean an impossible number of rooms, and most couldn’t handle it. I had no choice and spent years that way, dealing daily with exhaustion, body pain, and tears,” she recalls.
Physically and mentally drained, Viktoriia decided to go independent, offering cleaning services to private clients. The change brought freedom. She secured residency, bought a car, completed a life-coaching course. She says studying will always be part of her plans. Today, she enjoys the sunshine, warmth, and landscapes that first drew her to Portugal – and has no intention of coming back to Ukraine.
From hobby to profession
Viktoriia’s story is not unique. Ganna Gavriushyna also had to redefine her career path, when she arrived in Portugal, only three years ago. She came with her son. She held a master’s degree in metal heat treatment and had worked as an engineer for a gas company.
“It was hard to find work in my field because of the language and the lack of document recognition,” she says — echoing the frustration of thousands of migrants trying to re-enter the workforce.
She turned to an old hobby: massage therapy. What once was a pastime became her livelihood. After gaining legal status and completing professional courses, she embraced self-employment and entrepreneurship. Now, she visits clients’ homes, works independently, and is gradually overcoming obstacles to rebuild confidence and stability.
Support for a fresh start
Since the beginning of the war, Portugal quickly became a destination for many Ukrainians — forcing the governments to act. Early on, the country granted temporary protection status under EU humanitarian measures, giving refugees immediate access to residency, social benefits, documentation, and the national healthcare system (SNS).
One major integration initiative was Portugal for Ukraine, which includes the public employment agency IEFP. The platform lists job openings, enables registration at job centers, offers Portuguese-language courses, and provides information to employers interested in hiring refugees.
According to preliminary 2024 data from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), 61,648 Ukrainians entered Portugal under the temporary protection scheme. By early 2023, there were about 57,000, according to the former Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) — including 33,386 women and 23,733 men. Most settled in Lisbon (12,341), Cascais (3,562), Porto (2,906), Sintra (1,927), and Albufeira (1,414). More than a quarter — over 14,000 — were under 18.
Bureaucracy and the waiting
According to Pavlo Sandokan, president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal, his compatriots have adapted well to local culture while keeping their traditions alive through events and celebrations — a way to pass on their heritage to younger generations.
However, professional integration remains difficult.
Sandokan points to the “bureaucracy surrounding professional licensing”, such as for doctors, as one of the biggest hurdles. Long wait times and complex validation procedures often leave skilled Ukrainians unemployed or working below their qualifications — even in sectors with labor shortages. “It’s very hard to overcome this obstacle,” he says.
Statistics back him up. A 2023 Pordata study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation found that more than one in three foreign workers in Portugal have temporary contracts — compared to just 16% of Portuguese nationals.
Among 21 European countries analyzed, Portugal ranked fourth for job insecurity among foreign workers, only behind Croatia, the Netherlands, and Poland. The study also found that 31% of foreigners in Portugal live in poverty or social exclusion — 11 percentage points higher than the national rate.
Persistence in daily life
Ucranians are not new to immigration in Portugal. Before the war refugees, Ukrainians were already the second-largest foreign community living in Portugal, with 44,074 documented immigrants in 2012 — second only to the Brazilian community. In 2002, they reached 62,448, being, at that time, the country’s largest immigrant community. This was due to a very informal flux of immigration in the late 1990, just after the end of the soviet bloc and the crisis in Ukraine which fueled illegal international labor recruitment networks. They came to work mostly in cleaning services and construction, and the community started to decline after the economic crisis that began in 2008.
Iryna Grechanyuk from Khmelnytskyi, in central Ukraine, is not a newcomer. She decided to live in Portugal 25 years ago, and she came through an illegal path. A chemical engineer and former microbiologist at a wine factory, she couldn’t continue in her field upon arriving. She found work as a housekeeper, while her husband worked in construction and was often underpaid due to language barriers.
As many, she learned the language, and more importantly she learned the skills, and eventually they opened a small café near Lisbon’s Santa Maria Hospital. “I didn’t even know the difference between a good coffee and a bad one,” she laughs. “In my country, we drink tea.”
Their patience paid off. The business grew, and they invested in a larger space. Today, the family runs Pastelaria Colmeia, a beloved Lisbon pastry shop founded in 1954, employing several people alongside their children and son-in-law.
“You need courage and can’t be afraid to start over. Even if it fails, it’s a huge learning experience. If you don’t take risks, you achieve nothing,” she advises.
Iryna now follows the war from afar, worried for those still in Ukraine. Her parents happened to be visiting Portugal when the invasion began — and they decided not to return. “It was a shock. Nobody was prepared. For weeks, I couldn’t sleep. We have friends and family there — my brother, uncles, nephews. It’s horrible,” she says.
Now, with every cake that leaves the oven and every cup of coffee she serves, Iryna carries out a quiet act of resistance — rebuilding her life, one day at a time, in the country that gave her refuge and a new beginning.