Temporary work visa, restrictions of rights and deterioration of labour condition in the new configuration of international immigration in são paulo

Brazil has been an immigration country since slave trade was abolished in 1850. Guest workers, then represented by the so-called 'coolies' from Asia, were rejected as an acceptable replacement of the slave workforce. This phase of immigration to Brazil can be characterized as migration for long-term settlement. Today again, Brazil emerges in the worldwide arena as a peripheral country attracting flows of international laborers from the global South (mainly Latin America), and due to high unemployment related to the economical crisis also from countries of the global North. In this new context, the number of temporary work visa in Brazil continues to grow. By providing evidence of the changes taking place in Brazil's labour market this study analyses the role of temporary labour migration. Most importantly, it investigates the temporary immigrant labourers' condition as it relates to the restriction of rights and precariousness of labour. Via analysis of immigration law and recent research on “unskilled” immigrant workers in São Paulo city, this paper investigates how temporary visa account for the immigrants' many vulnerabilities.