The ‘Luxembourg dream’ can deceive, warn groups helping foreigners

The recent case of a Portuguese man who has endured a “nightmare” since moving to the Grand Duchy under the false promises of a job, accommodation and a path to a successful future should be a warning to others who could be easily deceived by the Luxembourg dream, organisations helping immigrants have warned.

The case of Alberto C, recently reported by Contacto, and emigration “without proper preparation” is “frequent”, said Sérgio Ferreira, political director at the Association de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés (ASTI), an association which assists immigrant workers

Alberto C – unlike many others – was even informed in advance about the major difficulties that awaited him in Luxembourg, such as the cost of accommodation, but he believed his godson’s assurances that he would find him a decent room, which turned out to be uninhabitable.

Ferreira admits that it is impossible to prevent situations like Alberto C.’s from happening, especially when they are based on “relationships of trust” between those who emigrate and those who are supposed to take them in. “These are human factors and they are much more difficult to combat,” he said.

Emigrating “for adventure” has many risks

Anyone thinking of moving to Luxembourg in search of a better life must obtain all the necessary information about the reality of life in the country before making a decision, warned Ferreira and Jorge Cruz, Portugal’s Consul General in Luxembourg.

“Emigrating, because of the profound changes it brings to people’s lives, has to be based on a well-considered decision. There can be no room for any impulse or adventurism, otherwise you’ll face consequences that are often very negative, particularly if you decide to leave without guaranteed work and accommodation,” Cruz told Contacto.

The Portuguese Consul General said that any move to emigrate should be “well-prepared”.

However, as Ferreira points out, in many cases “situations of desperation lead people to make decisions without having all the information they should have. It’s a recurring situation”. “Desperation” makes people “want to see something that doesn’t exist or that, when they’re told it does, they believe wholeheartedly”, said Ferreira.

ASTI’s political director emphasises that what drives people to leave their country is not the conditions in their new home, but the conditions in their current one. “This causes many people to emigrate, deluded by some partial information about Luxembourg or other countries to which the Portuguese and others emigrate,” he said.

Luxembourg is no longer “El Dorado”

The illusion often begins with an unrealistic and tantalising portrait of a Luxembourg that no longer exists, but which continues to be promoted, even by Portuguese immigrants to the country.

“There is still a widespread perception that Luxembourg offers easy access to an ‘El Dorado’. This is no longer the case. While it is true that, compared to Portugal, salaries are higher, the truth is that this statement, without further contextualisation, creates a misleading idea of reality,” said Cruz.

He understands that the “temptation to move to Luxembourg can be great” when faced with a “minimum wage for unskilled workers of €2,637.79 and for skilled workers €3,165.35”.

However, he warns that several realities need to be borne in mind, including housing prices, where “renting a room can vary between €800 and €1,200”, or where in order to get a job it is “a fundamental requirement to master one of the country’s three official languages”.

Sérgio Ferreira from Asti has warned people to prepare themselves about every aspect of life in Luxembourg © Photo credit: Anouk Antony

For Ferreira, coming to the country without knowing the reality of the property market is one of the biggest risks.

“The absolutely prohibitive housing prices in Luxembourg mean that people move to border areas in France or Belgium or Germany, often without legal resident status. That’s when the problems start, and in many cases they snowball,” he said.

Making a well-informed choice

Arriving in Luxembourg without a work contract and believing that it will be easy to find a job is foolish and to be avoided, despite what previous generations may have experienced.

Consul Cruz warned that the current labour context in Luxembourg “has very little to do with the one experienced by the first waves of Portuguese migrants in the last decades of the last century, with a labour market that has shrunk and that requires a qualified workforce, even a very qualified one, capable of expressing themselves in the country’s official languages”.

When their dreams come crashing down, there are those who give up and return to Portugal, as was the case with Alberto C, but there are also those who, by choice or necessity, decide to remain in the Grand Duchy, continuing to suffer hardship.

Staying or leaving

Why don’t these Portuguese return? “For various reasons, perhaps by the lack of alternative employment options and the fear of being condemned as a failure,” said the consul.

Although, in extreme situations, Portuguese emigrants can turn to the Portuguese Consulate to ask for support to return, very few do so, said Cruz.

ASTI’s Ferreira also sees the same reluctance to ask for help. “Many people don’t contact the Portuguese authorities, the Luxembourg authorities or associations, so it’s a phenomenon that tends to go unnoticed”, he said. But the truth is that it does exist.

The consulate is aware of such cases, Cruz said, “through regular contact with various organisations, charities and NGOs dedicated to social support, that many emigrants frequently ask their services for help to stay in Luxembourg. And they remain here facing very difficult conditions,” said Cruz.

The most typical case is that of the so-called “homeless workers”, Cruz explained.

“These are workers who, finding themselves in a precarious labour situation, hired to carry out tasks for a very limited period of time, see their professional contract come to an end and are unable to re-enter the labour market, leaving them in a vulnerable situation and without the right to official support,” he said.

“They quickly become insolvent and unable to continue to provide accommodation, so in practice they become homeless,” added Cruz.

Getting help and information

Both the consul and Asti’s political director are adamant: Portuguese people wishing to emigrate to Luxembourg should find out more about all aspects of a move from organisations and bodies that are familiar with the reality of the country.

Bodies such as Portugal’s network of emigrant support offices, which exist in 184 municipalities across the country, or the embassy and consulate general, provide “a wide range of information and are ready to answer any questions”, said Cruz.

Many Luxembourg organisations are also on hand to provide information, such as Asti, the Comité de Liaison des Associations d’Étrangers (CLAE), and the Guichet.lu portal.

(This article was originally published by Contacto. Translation and editing by John Monaghan)