Russian citizens are returning to Portugal. Entries soared after partial mobilization announcement in September

Carla Costa Reis characterizes them as “low-key”. The Russian citizens he hosted at the local dormitory he runs in Lisbon “do not haggle” and book places “at the very last moment”, “without long conversations”. He dares to say that many will work remotely because of the question he is so often asked: “How fast is the Internet?”

The local accommodation manager noticed that “staying longer than usual”. “Especially because always stayed more in hotels than in local accommodation”, shoots. From the beginning of the war until the end of December, there were 13 of them (in 2021, still heavily affected by the pandemic, there was only one booking of Russian guests). And there is everything: from staying for three days, to one for a month (it happened, at the end of March, they booked a couple of days in advance). “Many of them come looking for more medium-term options,” he says, given the requests he receives for extensions of stay, which he often cannot respond to because he already has other reservations.

I notice that they started to come because the type of housing they started to need, with this type of immigration, means spending more time here, having a living room, a kitchen, a more homely lifestyle,” says Carla Costa Reis. Observer.

The perception of the local accommodation manager is that this is the arrival of citizens with Russian passports. increased in recent months. And the figures from the Foreign Service (SEF) support this view. The number of Russian citizens arriving in Portugal decreased significantly in the first months of the war – in March compared to February (the month the war began), the fall was 42%from 1351 to 777 entries.