Do immigrants receive more benefits than firefighters' wages in Portugal?

Portugal and other parts of Europe have been at the centre of one of the continent's worst wildfire seasons since records began in 2006, which has also turned into a breeding ground for misinformation.

A post appeared on Instagram in August, alleging that immigrants receive €910 in benefits, compared to volunteer firefighters, who the user alleged receive no stipends.

The account that published the picture is a self-professed supporter of the far-right Chega party and has more than 16,000 followers. The post has received 10,000 likes and has prompted other similar posts elsewhere on social media.

For example, Chega MP Rita Matias published the same picture on X on 17 August, stating, "This mustn't be far from the truth". Her post has garnered almost 800,000 views as of the time of writing.

Immigrants don't receive any preferential treatment over Portuguese citizens or immediate benefits upon their arrival in the country. According to Portuguese law, they only qualify for benefits after fulfilling certain requirements, depending on the benefit.

For example, to qualify for the social integration income, non-EU and EEA citizens need to have legally resided in Portugal for a year.

They must also be in a situation of what the government describes as "extreme poverty" and must enrol in an integration programme, among other requirements.

The amount received depends on the composition of the household requesting it and its income, but government figures put the reference amount at €237 per month for the applicant, and extra amounts for other adults and children living in the household.

Volunteer firefighters, meanwhile, receive a stipend of €75 per day, or about €3.10 per hour when divided over 24 hours, which the League of Portuguese Firefighters has criticised for not being enough because no firefighting shift is ever 24 hours long, and the current national minimum hourly wage in Portugal stands at just over €5.

"In our view, it is unacceptable and we must all fight for justice and equity, especially since, as we well know, the Ministry of Health already pays firefighters for their availability at an hourly rate of €5.02," the association said, noting that other similar services are paid more than the minimum wage, such as ambulance and medical emergency responders.

The lowest payscale for a salaried firefighter, meanwhile, stands at €1,074 per month, according to government figures.

Following the blazes in Portugal, citizens are angry that firefighters are not paid enough for their life-saving work, but posts suggesting that this is somehow the fault of immigrants are disingenuous, as any benefits they may or may not receive are unrelated to public sector wages.

Like in many European countries, the issue of immigration in Portugal is a hotbed for dubious claims.

Earlier this year, EuroVerify debunked claims from the far right about the supposed link between criminality rates and immigration in Portugal.

Conversely, we also found that claims that Portugal has one of the lowest return rates for illegal immigrants in the EU are generally true, above only Slovenia and Slovakia.