The Government of Madeira plans to increase the number of foreign residents in the coming years, motivated by the international promotion of the region. Madeira currently has about 22,000 foreign residents.
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15/10/2026
by
Lusa
A Madeira currently has about 22,000 foreign residents, but the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP) today indicated predicting an increase in the number in the coming years, motivated by the “positive promotion” of the region at the international level.
“ The trend will be, with the internationalization and positive promotion of Madeira in Europe and the United States, that the number of foreign residents will increase in the coming years, which is good for our economy, it is good for our society,” said Miguel Albuquerque.
The head of the Madeiran executive, also leader of the regional structure of the PSD, spoke of the scope of a visit to the new facilities of the International Sharing School in Funchal, a private educational institution that invested more than EUR 20 million in the acquisition and rehabilitation of the former Seminary of Our Lady of the Incarnation.
“ It is an international school, with international curriculum, but anyone can compete ", noted Miguel Albuquerque.
Like all private schools in the autonomous region, the International Sharing School – Madeira receives support from the Regional Government under the annual financial package for the sector, and in September the contract with this institution was approved, worth EUR 259,524, to support “own curriculum plans, alternatives and pedagogical innovation”.
“ We are the only region, I think, that makes association contracts, in order to guarantee the right of citizens to choose what kind of education they want to give their children,” said the chief executive, saying that “no one can be harmed in this right of choice by their social position.
On the other hand, Francisco Ladeira Santos, head of the Madeira group that manages the International Sharing School, indicated that tuition fees vary between 600 and 1,400 euros, with special packages for various professional orders, residents in the municipality of Funchal and other municipalities, which, he said, “make the school more accessible to middle-class families”.
The school, which is taught entirely in English, has 240 students who have moved from the old premises, but is now able to receive up to 500, from 3 to 18 years of age.
“ We have about 50% Portuguese students [madeirenses] and 50% foreign students. The idea is to keep this proportion,” Francisco Ladeira Santos said.