Nobody knows the precise
number of Brazilians living in the UK.
The Brazilian Embassy in London estimates that there are
80,000 of them. This figure can only be correct if many entered
the country as visitors and stayed on. To face the bureaucracy
and the pitfalls of immigrant life, Brazilians are getting organized.
by: Guy
Burton
Traditionally you could label different parts of London by the foreigners
who live there. Earl’s Court is full of Australians and Kiwis, the Pakistanis
live in the west and the Bangladeshi community in my neighbourhood, Bethnal
Green.
Indeed, given their minority
status, you could be forgiven for believing that Bengalis make up the majority
of residents in the area: they account for around 60 percent of Tower Hamlet’s
population.
But I’m increasingly hearing
Portuguese and seeing Brazilians in the area. From the advertisement for lambada
classes in a bar window on Whitechapel High Street (sometimes it takes us
a while to catch up with what’s hip in East London), which I run past on my
jogging circuit, the samba musicians and crowd in the Nightmoves bar on Shoreditch,
or the half-drunk conversations between them as we wait for the night bus
near Liverpool Street, it seems clear that Brazilians are finding places to
live across the capital.
There was a time when
a Brazilian, straight off the plane from Rio or São Paulo, would make
his or her way to Bayswater. The neighbourhood, on the north side of Hyde
Park in the heart of London’s West End, is where many foreigners have found
their feet. With plenty of other Brazilians, it’s always been a useful hangout
for recent arrivals, helping them settle in and adjust to British life among
peers.
So common was it to find
Brazilians in Bayswater that according to Brazzil’s 1996 article on
emigration – https://www.brazzil.com/pages/cvrmar96.htm – the neighbourhood
had gained the epithet Brazilwater among members of the community.
But that was in the past.
Although Bayswater remains a hugely popular destination, it does not have
a monopoly on Brazilian residents. Arabs, Americans and French (to name but
three) throng the streets and rental costs have risen over time.
It is now becoming cheaper
to live further out from the city centre—which is where places like Bethnal
Green, Whitechapel and Stratford in East London have become more popular amongst
many foreign residents. And that includes Brazilians.
How Many?
However, figures on the
precise number of Brazilians resident in the UK are hard to come by. The Embassy’s
press office believed there were around 80,000 in the country, the same estimate
in 1996. But the Embassy pointed out that it didn’t keep such figures and
that the consulate, which deals with inquiries, was more likely to have them.
There is only one Brazilian
consulate in the UK, around the corner from the bustle and activity of Piccadilly
Circus. It is located down a side street, in a small, almost nondescript building.
Only the flag outside
denotes its function, although the consulate shares office space with a Japanese
company and the Chileans—at least it did so the last time I visited,
more than a year ago.
According to the consulate,
no official figures are available on the number of Brazilians living in the
UK. "If anyone had it, it would be the Home Office," a spokeswoman
told me.
"The only figures
we have at the consulate are on Brazilians who register themselves with us.
At the moment there are 13,000 who have done that. But that doesn’t offer
an accurate figure for the Brazilian population in Britain. Some people choose
not to register while others leave and don’t tell us that they’re going. And
it’s not possible to say where they are all living either."
So I went to the Home
Office to ask how many Brazilians are living here. But they weren’t able to
help either. "You would need to contact the Office of National Statistics,"
I was told, "The Home Office only controls the entry of people into the
country, not whether they stay."
At the Office of National
Statistics I wasn’t able to draw much joy either. "We don’t have details
of Brazilians living in the country," a spokeswoman said, "but we
can check the census data and tell you how many people who put down their
country of birth as Brazil are living here."
That would be useful,
I said, but as someone who was born in Brazil, but who carries dual citizenship,
would such a figure accurately reflect the number of British-based Brazilians?
"It’s all we would have," she replied, "and while it’s not
perfect, it’ll give you a rough idea."
She called back soon after.
In 1991 there were 9301 people who were born in Brazil living in the country.
By the time of the next census, in 2001, that figure had risen to 14,555—roughly
the same number as registered at the consulate.
If the 80,000 figure is
accurate, where does this figure come from? The Home Office keeps detailed
statistics of the people who enter the UK and for what purpose, including
whether they are refused permission as well. These are available on the web,
but only for the three years to 2002; 2003 figure are provisional and won’t
come out till November.
According to these reports,
145,000 Brazilians entered the UK in 2000. Of those, 13,300 came for business
reasons and 10,500 as students. In 2002, 130,000 arrived, with 13,700 doing
so for business reasons and 9700 to study. The number of people trying to
enter—without the right paperwork, documentation or sufficient funds—rose
as well, from 1814 in 2000 to 2400 in 2002.
But while the Home Office
reports those who are refused entry on arrival, the statistics don’t show
how many Brazilians leave the country in each year. Instead they only show
the total number, but not broken down by country of origin.
The absence of this data
could well hide the true number of Brazilians in the UK. And if the 80,000
figure is correct then the only way this can be is that many have entered
the country as visitors and stayed on; in 2000 84,800 Brazilians arrived in
the UK in this position, compared to 65,000 two years later.
Immigration Issues
This seems to be borne
out by Vitoria Nabas, a lawyer from São Paulo, who set up her immigration
practice among London’s Brazilian community last year. In a bright orange
coffee shop in Islington’s Upper Street on a Saturday afternoon she told me
about the kind of people she worked with and the issues they faced.
"I have around 300
appointments each week," she said, "most of which are for immigration
issues. They like it that they can speak in their own language"
For Vitoria, the nature
of her clients can be broken down into two types. "There are the students,
who are middle class and university-educated. They’re here to learn English,
gain some work experience, usually as waiters or in McDonalds, before they
go back. They don’t stay in the country long and because they’re young, don’t
have much money.
"The second type
is different. They’re poor and are less well-educated. They have few opportunities
in Brazil. They come to England to work, as cleaners, porters or nannies.
They’re almost all illegal immigrants, or trying to get married.
"Some come in using
a tourist pass; others have student visas and then decide to stay. But some
are dual nationals as well. They have Portuguese citizenship which they get
through their parents and grandparents."
Vitoria’s clients are
mainly based in London, but she also has some dealings with Brazilians outside
of London. "I’ve been working with some people in Boston in Lincolnshire
recently. They are there because there’s a Portuguese community there. Brazilians
like to stick with each other, and where people speak the same language.
"But relations aren’t
always so good. I’ve heard of one case where the Portuguese were selling Portuguese
identity documents to Brazilians, who hoped this would help them remain in
the country."
The logic behind this
is because Portugal and England are both in the European Union; citizens of
each country can live and work in the other.
September 11
Just as the 1994 Real
Plan brought parity between the dollar and the new currency on a one-to-one
basis, encouraging Brazilians to go abroad, so did Vitoria also think that
the 1999 devaluation had also helped in the same way.
"With the real valuing
less, it makes more sense to move abroad to work, since the money earned in
America or Europe will be worth more back in Brazil."
Vitoria is also convinced
that there are more Brazilians in the UK than before, as a result of September
11. "Most Brazilians go to America to work. But since the attacks in
New York it has become much more difficult for foreigners—and not just
Brazilians—to get into the United States. They’re therefore looking where
else to go, and England is probably easier."
But since the latest official
figures only date back to 2002, we will have to wait and see whether this
argument backs up later in the year when the 2003 results come out.
I asked her where most
of her clients came from. Which Brazilians were more likely to come to England
and end up asking for her help? Vitoria leaned back and thought about it for
awhile.
"I get a lot from
Goiás and Minas Gerais." She stopped. "And a lot from Paraná.
Especially Londrina, for some reason. I don’t know why," she said. And
then with a smile: "Perhaps it’s something to do with the name. London,
Londrina."
Last summer. the Brazilian
Embassy set up an advisory group, Diálogo Brasil, to improve its communication
with its British-based community. At its first meeting in the embassy’s gallery
annexe in Green Street, the attendees were invited to say what the key concerns
were facing Brazilians in the UK.
One after another, each
person had something to say about British immigration officials and the apparent
mistreatment they had suffered at its expense. Only a month or so earlier
Tony Saint’s Refusal Shoes had been published, a fictional account by a former
immigration official of the ways in which arrivals at Heathrow can be refused
entry into the country.
SOS Immigrant
Before the meeting broke
up in the unseasonable heat of London last August, it was agreed that steps
needed to be taken by embassy and consulate officials to alert the Home Office
about these concerns.
Eventually a seminar,
`Living in the UK’, was also planned and devised, at which immigration issues
would be addressed. It eventually took place in south London last month.
Attended by over 100 participants,
publicity about the consulate’s services was shared, along with details of
British immigration and visa requirements and information about the kinds
of public services available to Brazilians.
Most helpfully, the embassy
put the details of the seminar up onto its website, alongside a most frequently
asked questions document put together by the consulate. This included queries
about students’ right to work, procedures for getting married in Britain and
what to do if a person is refused entry or deported.
No doubt all very useful,
I thought, but shouldn’t this be up on the British consulate’s websites in
Brazil? Later when I asked an embassy official this, my comments were met
with a weak smile, with mumblings of diplomatic sensitivities being uttered
sotto voce. However, there are moves afoot to get the material out to tourist
agencies back in Brazil, so that people can be informed before they come over.
But it isn’t only the
victimisation—perceived or otherwise—that Brazilians suffer at the
hands of Britain’s immigration officials. Vitoria told me that there are a
small, but growing number of people who were finding their visas had been
stamped incorrectly upon arrival, creating problems when they tried to enrol
as students at language schools around the capital.
"What happens is
the Brazilian arrives with a student visa to study. But instead of certifying
this by stamping a student pass on the passport, the official gives him or
her a tourist stamp. Because of the language barrier, they don’t know something
has happened until it’s too late.
"When they go to
the school they are told they can’t study because their visa is wrong. The
person then has to go to the Home Office to get an extension, which they have
to pay more for.
"I have had one case
where the student arrived with all her documentation in order, including the
school where she was going to study. But the officer still gave her a tourist
stamp. I wrote to the Home Office but they refused to accept they were wrong
and demanded she pay more for a new visa."
When I spoke to the Home
Office, I asked them about this. "I’ve never heard of this before,"
the spokesman said. "Brazilians don’t need visas to enter the UK as tourists,
only as students. I can only assume the paperwork was not correct, which would
be the reason for the officer denying entry."
Extending Visas
When asked about the ground
for refusing someone entry into the UK, the spokesman continued: "The
reasons for not allowing someone in will vary from country to country, but
it will usually be because they don’t have the right documents or visa.
"They may decide
that someone with a one-way ticket, insufficient funds to support themselves,
no contacts or idea of where they’ll stay may be grounds for suspicion. If
they suspect the rules are being broken they can interview that person to
see whether their suspicion is correct."
Nevertheless, Brazilians
make proportionately more extensions to stay in the UK as students than any
other country from North or South America. In 2000, 78 percent of extension
grants to Brazilians were to study, compared to 77 percent for Colombians,
59 percent for Jamaicans and 9 percent for Americans. Two years later this
had rise to 87 percent for Brazilians, compared to 83 percent for Colombians
and 11 percent for Americans.
The fact that the Brazilian
community is ready to challenge the Home Office over such behaviour would
seem to indicate it is becoming more organised. That, Vitoria believes, is
due in no small part to the efforts of Diálogo Brasil.
"There’s still a
way to go," she said. "A few years ago we weren’t as united. We’re
starting to change that. But we still have a lot more to do if we’re to become
better organised."
Guy Burton is one of the 14,555 who in the 2001 census gave their country
of birth as Brazil. He now lives in London where he runs a blog on a range
of subjects, including Brazil, at http://guyburton.blogspot.com.
He can be contacted at gjsburton@hotmail.com.
