00:00Do immigrants receive more benefits than firefighters' wages in Portugal?
00:07Portugal and other parts of Europe have been at the centre of one of the continent's worst
00:12wildfire seasons since records began in 2006, which has also turned into a breeding ground
00:18for misinformation. This post appeared on Instagram in August, which compares the supposed
00:23910 euros that immigrants receive in benefits, with the zero that volunteer firefighters receive
00:30in stipends. The account that published the picture is a self-professed supporter of the
00:35far-right Shaker Party and has more than 16,000 followers. Immigrants don't receive any preferential
00:41treatment over Portuguese citizens or immediate benefits upon their arrival in the country.
00:46According to Portuguese law, they only qualify for benefits after fulfilling certain requirements,
00:51depending on the benefit. For example, to qualify for the social integration income,
00:56non-EU and non-EEA citizens need to have legally resided in Portugal for a year.
01:01They must also be in a situation of what the government describes as extreme poverty
01:05and must enrol in an integration programme, among other requirements.
01:10The amount received depends on the composition of the household requesting it and its income,
01:14but government figures put the reference amount at 237 euros per month for the applicant
01:19and then extra amounts for other adults and children living in the household.
01:24Volunteer firefighters, meanwhile, receive a stipend of 75 euros per day or about 3 euros per hour
01:30when divided over 24 hours, which the League of Portuguese Firefighters has criticised for not
01:36being enough. The lowest pay scale for a salaried firefighter, meanwhile, stands at 1,074 euros per
01:43month, according to government figures. Following the blazes in Portugal, citizens are angry that
01:48firefighters are not paid enough for their life-saving work, but posts suggesting that this is somehow
01:53the fault of immigrants are disingenuous.
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