<story><title>Portugal announces immediate granting of visas for Ukrainian refugees</title><url>https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2022-02-25/portugal-identifying-job-opportunities-for-refugees/65478</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>qnsi</author><text>Something interesting I guess most people don&amp;#x27;t know, the pro-ukrainian mobilisations in Poland (I can only speak about Poland) is amazing. My FB wall is full of people providing their apartments for free, giving jobs etc. There is over 100 cars long queue at a border willing to transport Ukrainians escaping war where they want. They can travel by train for free in Poland.&lt;p&gt;Now not so good tidbit. Just few months ago we had a lot of people lured into Belarus by Lukashenko trying to come to Europe. Poland treated them really really poorly. Catching them after crossing border and pushing them back. The society was split among pro-refugees and anti. The political parties almost all focused on &amp;quot;protecting our border&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;I was afraid that this natalist sentiment might repeat, even though Ukrainians are one of the closest people to Poland. I am very happy to note I haven&amp;#x27;t heard anyone speaking against refugees from Ukraine, not on twitter not on facebook not by far-right parties, altough I am sure some people are silent about their opinions.</text></comment>
<story><title>Portugal announces immediate granting of visas for Ukrainian refugees</title><url>https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2022-02-25/portugal-identifying-job-opportunities-for-refugees/65478</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>jillesvangurp</author><text>Portugal is such an awesome country. I love going there and wouldn&amp;#x27;t mind staying there a bit longer at some point.&lt;p&gt;More countries should do this; Germany and my home country the Netherlands in particular. I live in Berlin currently as a foreigner (perfect place for that). Lots of people from all over eastern Europe live here, lots of companies here outsource all over eastern Europe, lots of people that I know either come from or have friends&amp;#x2F;family from the Ukraine. Also, about 200k people of Russian origin live here that chose to move here after the wall fell. And I assume quite a few Ukranians.&lt;p&gt;I remember meeting refugees from the former Yugoslavia in the nineties. I think 25 years later, a lot of those people did pretty well. I actually visited Bosnia for work last summer and met a guy that went to school in Munich. Likewise a lot of Syrian refugees that ended up in Germany seem to be doing OK. Quite a few ended up here in Berlin. In times of war, people are generally grateful if you accommodate them; even if it isn&amp;#x27;t always with open arms.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s usually the smart, free thinkers that need to flee. Incidentally those are also people likely to find a way to make it in life; start businesses; or otherwise be generally successful.&lt;p&gt;The US is full of such people that emigrated there after various wars in the last century. Now is not a time to be xenophobic about this sort of thing.</text></comment>