Being an immigrant is hard. Leaving your country, your family, most of your belongings and life as you know it can be overwhelming.
Arriving at Lisbon with my wife, two dogs and 10 bags
Recently, I moved from Mexico City to Lisbon. When I finally arrived in Portugal, I naturally struggled with the language and culture but mostly with the amount of bureaucracy. Fortunately, as a Cisco employee, you have a team helping you get the necessary documents and paperwork before and after you arrive in your new country.
To keep myself organized throughout this process, I started logging all the steps I followed when searching for an apartment, shopping for groceries, using public transportation, etc. By the end of it, I realized that a lot of people could benefit from my tips and tricks on how to best navigate a relocation to Portugal. This is how the Foreigners Corner started.
Foreigners Corner is an internal group with the goal of helping people coming to Cisco Portugal by making their transition easier by providing a point of contact within the country. With the help of our internal communications team and our Country Leadership Board in Portugal, we were able to successfully set up the Foreigners Corner and get exposure within the Lisbon site. Some of the initiatives we have been leading are:
- Guides with tips and tricks on how to make the transition to Portugal easier
- Points of contact in Portugal to answer questions and concerns before and after the arrival
- A Webex team space to facilitate interactions and grow the community
Our team is composed of 4 collaborators – myself, Andrea Flores, Eda Sirma Duarte, and Elena Ilovska – and so far, our community benefits more than 150 Cisconians relocating to Portugal, not only with bureaucratic work but also by welcoming and being the gateway to a new chapter in this country that has so much to offer. We’re of course a work in progress and we’re aiming at continuing developing by giving out the most accurate and up-to-date information and supporting as many people as possible!
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2 Comentários
I didn't know yo were behind the initiative. I want to say both congratulations on your work, and thank you, since that group has definitely helped me
Great initiative, Sergio! I am sure many find this peer to peer support super valuable!