GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION, CLIMATE, EXTENSION, ET

www.losviajeros.com

www.viajar.clix.pt

Republic in south-west Europe, situated in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, bounded on the north and east by Spain and on the south and west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Azores and Madeira Islands in the Atlantic are considered integral parts of the republic. The total area of metropolitan Portugal, including the Azores (2,335 sq km/902 sq mi) and the Madeira Islands (796 sq km/307 sq mi), is 92,082 sq km (35,553 sq mi).

Land and Resources

Portugal is a small country and has its problems when it comes to immigration. However as statistics show, Portugal does have a high number of foreigners from all over the world working in different sectors. These foreign workers are mainly from the East European countries (Romenia, Moldavia, Ukraine) but in recent years, immigrants arriving from India and China have increased significantly.

The frontiers of Portugal are defined by mountains and rivers, and the interior is largely mountainous. In the west and south the mountains descend to a large coastal plain that is intensively cultivated. The highest range is the Star Mountain Range (Serra da Estrela) in central Portugal, rising to almost 2,000 m (6,562 ft). Portugal is traversed by three great rivers, which rise in Spain and empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The Tagus (Tejo), with Lisbon situated at its mouth, is the largest river; followed by the Douro, with Porto at its mouth; and the Guadiana, which forms part of the eastern frontier. A fourth river, the Minho, forms part of the northern frontier.

Climate

The climate varies according to altitude, and high temperatures occur only in the comparatively low regions of the south. The mean annual temperature north of the River Douro is about 10° C (50° F); between the Tagus and Douro, about 15.6° C (60° F); and in the valley of the Guadiana, about 18.3° C (65° F). Rainfall is heavy, particularly in the north.

Political Divisions

Mainland Portugal is divided into 18 districts for administrative purposes: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Porto, Portalalegre, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, and Viseu. Azores and Madeira each constitute an autonomous region.

Principal Cities

Lisbon is the capital, largest city, and leading seaport of Portugal. Other important cities include Porto, the second-largest city and seaport; Coimbra, an industrial centre; and Faro.

Government

Portugal is governed under a constitution set up in 1976 and revised in 1982. Although the constitution initially called for the creation of a “classless” state based on public ownership of land, natural resources, and the principal means of production, this socialist language was modified in 1989. The right to strike and the right of assembly are guaranteed, and censorship and the death penalty are proscribed.

National Holidays

Web Sites with useful information about Portugal

http://www.portugal.org

http://www.portugal-info.net

www.visitportugal.com

http://www.well.com/user/ideamen/portugal.html#Pages

http://geography.about.com/library/maps/blportugal.htm

www.portugal-linha.pt/arteviver/grupo3.htm

www.portugal.org/tourism/

http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/eu_members/portugal/index_en.htm

www.discoverportugal2day.com/index01.htm

POPULATION, DEMOGRAPHY

Portugal has just over 10 million inhabitants (2002). Many Portuguese live abroad, for economical reasons. After the decolonisation of Angola and Mozambique hundred of thousands so-called retornado returned to their mother country. The growth rate of the population was negative between 1984 and 1994 (-0.1%) but is now at a level of plus 0.1%. The density of the population varies much in different areas. Large population concentrations are in and around Lisbon (680.000 people living in the city), Porto (350.000) and on Madeira. Still, Portugal is a sparsely populated country with an average density of 108 people per square kilometer.

LANGUAGE/S

The official language of the country is Portuguese.

CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS

Portuguese culture is closely related to Spanish culture and has been influenced by the three primary cultures from which it derives: the Latin, the Visigoth , and the Muslim.

Lisbon has a number of important libraries, including the Library of the Academy of Sciences, the Ajuda Library, the National Library, and the Military Library. The National Archives of Torre do Tombo, also in Lisbon, is noteworthy for its collection of historical documents dating from the 9th century. The provincial libraries in Porto, Évora, Braga, and Mafra contain many rare old books and large manuscript collections. Various specialized libraries are attached to the universities.

Museums of archaeology, art, and ethnography are found in the principal cities and towns of each district. The art museum in Coimbra is famous for its collection of 16th-century sculpture; the museum in Évora is known for Roman sculpture and 16th-century paintings. The National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon, houses decorative art and paintings from the 12th to the 19th century. Also in Lisbon are the National Museum of Contemporary Art; the National Museum of Natural History; the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, with a collection of fine art dating from 2800 BC to the 20th century; the Ethnographical Museum; and the National Archaeological Museum.

The 14th century was the golden age of Portuguese sculpture, at which time such fine monuments as the tombs of the kings at Alcobaça were constructed. The sculptors of the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Portugal did their finest work in the church.

The Portuguese are musical people, and their folk music ranges from very lively songs and dances to passionate laments. Similar to other music of the Iberian Peninsula, Portuguese music reflects three major influences: the Catholic Church, the troubadours of the kings, and the wandering minstrels who sang their stories across the countryside.

ECONOMY, RESOURCES

The unit of currency in Portugal is the Euro. Principal imports included mineral fuels, machinery and transport equipment, and food and livestock. Principal exports included clothing, textile yarns and fabrics, and wood and paper products. Among Portugal's chief trading partners were Germany, Great Britain, the United States, France, Spain, and Italy.

Manufacturing is of increasing importance to the economy of Portugal, employing about 23 per cent of the workforce. Major manufactured goods include processed food; textiles; machinery; chemicals; wood, glass and pottery items; refined petroleum; and building materials. Annual output in the mid-1980s included about 27,400 metric tons of processed sardines, 285,900 metric tons of refined sugar, 1.3 million metric tons of fertilizer, and 386,900 metric tons of steel ingots. An oil refinery and petrochemical complex opened south of Lisbon in 1979. Products of cottage industries, such as lace, pottery, and tiles, are world famous.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Portugal has more then 61,600 km (38,280 mi) of paved roads and some 3.6 million registered passenger cars. The railway system has a total length of about 3,610 km (2,240 mi). Most of the tracks are wide gauge to accommodate shipments from Spain. The merchant navy comprises more than 300 vessels. Major seaports include Lisbon, Leixões, Setúbal, and Funchal (Madeira). Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP), the national airline, provides domestic and international service. A number of foreign airlines also have scheduled stops at Lisbon's international airport.

Public Transports

·          Metro/ Subway/ Tube

            - Metropolitano de Lisboa EP

        General………………………………………………………………...217980600

www.metrolisboa.pt / relacoespublicas@metrolisboa.pt

·          Bus - Rodoviária de Lisboa

         General………………………………………………………………..217928180

       - Carris – Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa, SA

         Permanent service………………………………………………….213613054

·          Trains

           - CP – Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses

            General information………………………………………………….808208208

           www.cp.pt

·          Airport – ANA………………………………………………………...218413700

DRIVING LICENSE

Which national driver’s license can not be exchanged by a Portuguese’ driver’s license, without doing a test.Wich documents are requested:

The driver’s license that can be exchanged by a Portuguese one with exam dispensation are the ones issued in Brazil, Switzerland and the EES (European’ Economical Space), as well as the ones issued by a foreign state which the Portuguese State is Obliged to recognize by International Convention or Treaty or Foreign State that recognizes identical validity to Portuguese driver’s licenses.

In order to make the exchange, the owner of the driver’s license must deliver the forms model 1403 and 1403-A correctly filled and signed, to any DGV contablishement, accompanied by:

.2 colour photographs, resent and of plain background;

.Identification Card of national citizen or Brazilian citizen(benefited by General Statute of Equality foreseen by any applicable Convention or Treaty),residence card issued to national citizens of other EES member states, as well as foreigners who are relatives of Portuguese citizens or citizens from any of the other EES member states;

.Short-term or permanent residence visa, study visa, work visa or short-term stay visa, issued by SEF or by the Portuguese diplomatic authorities abroad or even by any MNE service for foreign citizens;

.Should it be necessary a certificate of residence of the driver issued by the respective area’s residence which must be present in the driver’s license;

.Doctor’s certificate;

.Official translation to Portuguese of the contents of the driver’s license, when they are not perceptible;

.24€ fee.

Which not national driver’s license allow people to drive in Portugal?

-People are allowed to drive in Portugal with a driver’s license (which owner does not have a residence in Portugal):

Issued by EES member States, Switzerland and Brazil;

-Issued by a foreign State but which the Portuguese State has forced itself to recognize by International Convention or Treaty;

-Issued by foreign state that recognized identical validity to Portuguese driver’s licenses.

The Portuguese Legislation recognizes the driver’s license of any citizen of any EU member state as well as EES. Nevertheless, for internal control if the owner of the driver’ license of these countries has fixed residence in Portugal he has, within 30days to communicate his Portuguese address to the DVS establishment of his area of residence. The substitution of the title is not necessary; he should only communicate it and have comprovative to present to the inspector authority. The delivery of that communication is received by the respective service that issues the confirming declaration. This demand is foreseen in the 12^th number of the 122^nd article of Road Code approved by Law-decreed nr 114/94, of 3^rd May, according the last alteration wording.

HOUSING

Accomodation in each country (links with different webs, type of lodging, ways to find lodging,…)

To stay in hotels,pensions...

http://www.portugal.hotels-world.pl/countryportal/en.htm

www.inn-portugal.com/accomm-lisbon-coast-index.html

to rent or buy house, flat....

www.holidaylettings.co.uk/Portugal

www.casa.sapo.pt

www.portugalvirtual.pt/_lodging/selfcatering/index.html

www.houseinportugal.co.uk

www.4321.co.il

www.real-estate-alentejo.com

www.portugal-villa.com/link_pt.htm

www.era.pt

www.lardocelar.com/imobiliario/indexempresas.jsp

www.agimoura.com

The best options to find a rental home or to buy a house or flat.

The best option would be if you pick the dailly newspaper and start looking for the kind of house you’re searching for, making relations between size,price,location,etc...

You’ll need to be very carefull not to be tricked. You can start by looking in these newspapers:

www.publico.clix.pt/

www.classificadoscm.xl.pt/

www.ocasiao.pt

Rules which you should know before you buy or rent a house or flat

To buy a property to live is a very important mission. The necessary consumer to unite the dream, the amount of available money and the force of will to find the house or apartment that congregates most of everything this. An advice is to look at for the property in the hour of the purchase and to imagine itself as a purchaser in the future. “He thinks very about the moment of venda. As, in the future, the purchaser goes to evaluate that property”, affirms the professor of the Federal University of the Paraná, Mauro Halfeld specialized in financial market. Exactly that it is for housing, the property is a patrimony that can be valued, that therefore it must be conserved. The anxiety is not the best council member at the time of deciding on the purchase of the house or apartment. This is, without a doubt, the business most important for the family when it is about the first property. For this, the specialists recommend that to the consumer estabeleça the type of house or apartment - number of dormitories, price band - the region where if she wants to live, beyond observing the neighborhood, the quarter. To visit the place in different schedules, also at night can prevent annoyances later. To compare prices is basic, to observe if the property well is conserved or not. “It is important to evaluate these questions, to confer if valley the penalty to more pay a little for a well conserved property of what one that has of being remodelled', affirms Halfeld. Ready property - It is good for checking if the corrector is credentiated and make to be valid its desire. If it will be to buy a used property exists the possibility of if negotiating a discounting. Apartments in the térreo and the first one to walk can leave more cheap because so they are not looked for. The necessary property to be comfortable. Halfeld explains that this means to acquire an apartment, for example, with two rooms and that it can shelter a family with children in the future. “She is necessary to question itself if valley thinks it to buy a small property, or a greater that can shelter one future family, or wait.” Accordind to Halfeld, optimum business is to buy a ready property, “not to be that if it obtains a good discounting” in the purchase of apartment in the plant. “The consumer must look a trustworthy and known constructor in the market.” The purchase of a property must follow certain rules, mainly as for the documentation, therefore, is always recommendable that if makes the purchase through the intermediação of a Real estate one or a credential Corrector, enrolled in the Regional Advice of Real estate brokers CRECI. Being thus, the possibility to commit errors will be discarded. Allowing that the negotiation is insurance. In a transaction that involves you and the salesman exclusively, it is always recommendable the act of contract of a professional of the area to analyze the documentation, and to follow the process of venda. A real estate consultant or a lawyer specialist in “Real estate Right” is the indicated professionals more for following to it with security in the purchase of a property. He never saves resources with the security of the transaction in the hour to acquire its property, that is, he does not open negative hand of any information or certificates that give guarantees to it how much to the regularity of the business. Although of vital importance, the documentation is not the only factor to be considered in a real estate business! In the acquisition for resale, property acquired of third, considers the conservation state, the possibility to have infiltrations, the disposal of the rooms in relation to the sun. The property that have the rooms directed toward the spring more are valued. It observes the existence of debits of consumption of water, light, taxes of IPTU and condominium, therefore these debits after the transference of the property will start to be of its responsibility. Another very important factor of being observed, is when the property is busy for lodger, with or without contract for indeterminate time. It looks for to know which its requirements for the inoccupation, stated periods etc. It verifies if many offers of property in the neighborhoods exist, therefore this excess of offers can mean possible depreciations in the area, beyond the insatisfação of the proprietors for some phenomenon that you must identify before buying. It is inquired on the social level of the neighborhood, if it is compatible or not. It analyzes the infrastructure of the place, such as: collective transports, Banks, supermarkets, Shopping Center, schools, hospitals, telephone, asphalt, Internet and TV the handle, etc…

AIDS, GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS IN THE SOCIAL FIELD

Grants in the social field (medical aids, housing aids, education aids, ….)

http://imigrantes.no.sapo.pt/page2organizacoes.html

http://juventude.gov.pt/Portal/Eventos/EducacaoFormacao/ gabinete_imigrantes.htm

http://www.jrsportugal.pt/emprego_casa/searchhome.asp

http://www.imigrante.pt/          

http://www.oi.acime.gov.pt/modules.php?name= Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=25

INDE

Av. Frei Miguel Contreiras, 54, 3.º

1700-213 Lisboa

Telef. 21 843 58 70

Fax 21 843 58 71

url: www.inde.pt

OBRA CATÓLICA PORTUGUESA DAS MIGRAÇÕES

Campo Mártires da Pátria, 43, r/c

1150-225 Lisboa

Telef. 21 885 21 46

Fax 21 885 04 55

CONSELHO PORTUGUÊS PARA OS REFUGIADOS

Bairro do Armador, Zona M - Chelas, lote 764, lojas dta. e esq.

1900-864 Lisboa

Telef. 21 837 50 70

Fax 21 837 50 72

url: www.cpr.pt

CIDAC

R. Pinheiro Chagas, 77, 2.º esq.

1069-069 Lisboa

Telef. 21 317 28 60

Fax 21 317 28 70

cidac@esoterica.pt

url: //homepage.esoterica.pt/

ALTO-COMISSARIADO PARA A IMIGRAÇÃO E MINORIAS ÉTNICAS

Av. Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro, 86, 8.º

1070-065 Lisboa

Telef. 21 721 02 10

Fax 21 727 11 43

url: www.acime.gov.pt

ORGANIZAÇÃO INTERNACIONAL PARA AS MIGRAÇÕES

Praça dos Restauradores, 65, 3.º dto.

1250-188 Lisboa

Telef. 21 347 53 66

Fax 21 322 38 66

url: www.oim.pt

CENTRO DE ACOLHIMENTO PARA REQUERENTES DE ASILO

(Conselho Português para os Refugiados)

R. S. José, 54, 1.º dto.

Bairro da Figueira - Bobadela - Sacavém

Telef. 21 994 48 40/41

Fax 21 994 48 39

ASSOCIAÇÃO PORTUGUESA DOS DIREITOS DO CIDADÃO

R. Augusto Rosa, 66, 2.º dto.

1100-059 Lisboa

Telef./Fax 21 888 33 49

Serviço Jesuíta para os Refugiados-Centro Universitário Padre António Vieira

Tel.21 754 3060

Estrada da Torre, Lumiar, Lisboa.

ASIL-Apoio Social aos Imigrantes de Leste, Centro de Acolhimento no Poço do Bispo, antiga esquadra  da polícia.

Lisboa

Associação Atlas-uma subdivisão da Comissão Nacional para a Legalização. 

Rua do Paraíso, 217. Porto

ACIME’s Projects

National System of Support for Immigrants

• CNAI - National Immigrant Support Centre
• CLAI - Local Immigrant Support Centre

National Immigrant Information System

• Informative Bulletin
• SOS Immigrant – 808 257 257 / 21 8106191
• ACIME’s site – www.acime.gov.pt

EMERGENCIES TELEPHONE NUMBERS, HOSPITALS, TOWN HALLS

National Phone Numbers

·          SOS……………………………………………………………………………112

·          Intoxication…………………….....….………………………………808250143

·          Sea Rescue Center.…………………………………...214401919 / 214411646

·           Red Cross

Ambulancies……........…………………………………………………….219421111

Hospital………….…………………………………………………………217714000

·          Fire Station

Emergency calls……………….…………….213422222/213906060/213924700

·          Civil Protectiom

National………………........………………………………………………214165100

Lisbon…………………………………………………………217825240/218820960

National Emergency Line ……………..………………………………………….114

·          Forest Protection………………………………………………………………117

·                      Police

        - Guarda Nacional Republicana – Comand Division………213217000

        - Traffic Brigade…………………………………………………213922300

                    -Inspection Brigade………….………………………………...218112100

                    -Coast Guard (permanent service)………………………….210911100

                    -Public of Security Police……………………………………..213535380

                    -Judiciary Police (permanent service)………….…………….217825200

Public Utilities