Welcome, but not working

BRAZILIANS pride themselves on their embrace—often literal, given their fondness for hugs—of strangers. Nearly all 204m of them are descendants of immigrants or of African slaves. Nativist sentiment is practically non-existent; foreigners easily blend into Brazil’s multi-hued society. “Brazil is a land of welcome,” President Dilma Rousseff wrote recently in an article on the global migration crisis.

It even extends to Syrian refugees, whose flight to Europe has caused a crisis there. On October 5th Brazil’s government signed an agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees strengthening a two-year-old scheme, recently extended for another two years, to fast-track their visa applications. These are filed in countries that border Syria. Brazil has issued visas to 8,000 Syrians so far and granted asylum to 2,100. That puts it ahead of Italy and Spain (though these are smaller countries). Brazil’s tiny Muslim population of 35,000 is about to grow. In all, 18,000 asylum-seekers are awaiting decisions.