Deportees of Goan origin & passport jumping

In common parlance amongst Immigration Lawyers: “passport jumping” refers to the informal term which is used to describe the practice of individuals switching between multiple passports, often to gain specific advantages such as visa-free travel, tax benefits, or evading legal restrictions. 

It is commonly associated with economic citizenship, dual/multiple citizenship, and flag theory (where individuals diversify their citizenships, residencies, and assets across different countries for financial or legal benefits).

And this would be particularly descriptive to a niche category of Goans who find financial liberation in leveraging their family’s entitlement to claim Portuguese Citizenship and thereafter to apply for a Portuguese Passport after having transcribed their Birth Records at the Conservatória do Registo Civil de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal and also registering the marriage of their parents with the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN).

And while the story of the two US Deportees being returned back to Goa is not only depressing to perceive given the lack of opportunities available to aspiring youth in the State, Goa’s Colonial past has demonstrated that many a global Goenkar has exploited the systematic route to securing the nationality and passport of more developed countries outside the Schengen Zone of countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia.

While these Portuguese Passport holders of Goan origin evidently possess basic qualifications and skills which are easily procurable by employers simply by hiring the local workforce therein in those respective countries.

According to Eurostat as of December 2024, the average unemployment rate across European Union (EU) member states was 5.9%, while the euro area (countries using the euro currency) experienced a slightly higher rate of 6.3% (Eurostat, 2025).

Therefore the question which is pertinent to ask here is: ‘What makes a Goan worker better suited and better qualified to perform the same job in a developed country when around 5.9 per cent of the local population is readily available to work for the same minimum wage in their own country of birth?’

In fact, having lived in the EU Member states for half a decade, it is evident to the eyes and even statistically that economic disparity is prevalent in every country despite its level of development.

And having personally seen the queue of Portuguese Citizens line up at the local Employment Exchange in every Bairro, which is known in common Portuguese Parlance as: Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional (IEFP), which translates to the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training.

It becomes evident that the competition for the limited number of jobs exists amongst the local population in that respective country. So wherein does the Goan Migrant holding a Portuguese Passport feature on this hierarchical ladder of a competing job market. The presumption is that the most menial and demoralising roles would be reserved for the migrants.

In fact what was evident while visiting France was that the migrant population from North Africa such as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia spoke fluent French and were well suited to take on basic roles at work. This combination made them acceptable to be easily integrated into the French speaking community.

But the irony that a Goan who does not speak the Portuguese language and yet holds a Portuguese Passport is as far away from being accepted into the Portuguese speaking community as much as he appears to be an outcast in his own homeland, since he now holds an OCI and has been stripped of major privileges of being a Goan.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI):

Goldman Sachs, the global Investment banking company, has recently discontinued its policy that required companies seeking to go public to have at least two diverse board members, one of whom had to be a woman. This policy, established in 2020, aimed to promote diversity within corporate leadership. The decision to end this mandate comes in response to recent legal developments concerning board diversity requirements (Reuters, 2025).

This move aligns with a broader trend among major corporations scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Companies such as Deloitte, Google, Meta Platforms, and Amazon have also recently reduced or eliminated their DEI programmes, influenced by political pressures and legal challenges (Guardian, 2025).

In forecasting the future after the abolishing of DEI initiatives, the entire allure of hiring Goan Migrants workers holding Portuguese Passports is bound to diminish due to the localisation of business operations and the fact that the respective Governments are now pushing for a local workforce as opposed to a diverse international workforce as it was earlier postulated.

While the deportation of illegal migrants being shackled and chained to the floor of a Military Aircraft represents a complete breakdown of Diplomatic Integrity and even spells the dereliction of basic Human Rights of the Migrants, this trend is poised to increase significantly in the distant future because the aspirants are willing to do anything to secure a seemingly promising future in an uncertain land where everything is foreign.

Therefore in order to secure the dignity of Goa’s cultural roots and its rich Colonial past, ‘Passport Jumping’ should be discouraged since this practice acts as the prelude to illegal migration into countries which do not have reciprocal arrangements for accepting the migrants and in turn later criminalise the illegal entry and cause deportation of the illegal migrants. The Goan identity should not be marred with the stain of nationality depredation that is defined by just a few deportees.