Persona: Emigrant in Switzerland (Professional)

Patrícia Alexandra Neves Fonseca

Quick Profile

Attribute	Value
Name	Patrícia Alexandra Neves Fonseca
Age	36
Gender	Female
Location	Zurich, Switzerland
Occupation	Senior Data Scientist (pharmaceutical company)
Education	PhD in Applied Mathematics (ETH Zurich)
Housing	Renting apartment in Zurich (CHF 2,800/month)
Family	Single, partner (Swiss-German), no children; parents in Coimbra
Voter Status	Portuguese citizen - CAN vote (votes by mail or consulate)
Time in Switzerland	9 years (left for PhD in 2017)

Background Narrative

Patrícia is brain drain personified. Top student at Coimbra University, she won a scholarship for ETH Zurich and never came back. Not because she didn't want to—because she couldn't. Her field barely exists in Portugal; the jobs that do exist pay a quarter of Swiss salaries; research funding is laughable.

She's built a life in Zurich. Excellent job, good salary, Swiss partner, alpine weekends. But something nags. She left to study, planning to return. Now return feels impossible—the salary differential alone would devastate her lifestyle. Her Portuguese degree led to a Swiss PhD led to a Swiss career led to... what? A Portuguese who can only visit Portugal.

Her parents are aging in Coimbra. She visits four times a year, calls twice a week, sends money when they need it. But she can't be there for the everyday—the medical appointments, the household problems, the slow decline. The guilt is constant, low-level, never resolved.

She follows Portuguese politics with frustration. Watches governments promise to stop brain drain while doing nothing that would bring her back. Sees the rhetoric about "reversing emigration" while salaries stay low and systems stay broken. She'd love to return. She just can't afford to.

Economic Situation

Aspect	Detail
Income level	High (CHF 180,000/year, ~€185,000)
Income source	Skilled employment (very stable)
Financial stress	Very Low
Housing cost burden	18% of income
Economic trajectory	Stable with growth potential

Values Profile (Schwartz Framework)

Dimension	Rating	Expression
Self-Transcendence	4	Cares about Portugal; guilty about leaving
Self-Enhancement	4	Career-driven; values recognition
Openness to Change	5	Intellectually curious; values new experiences
Conservation	2	Left tradition for opportunity

Top 3 values: Achievement, Self-Direction, Universalism

Moral Politics Frame (Lakoff)

Primary frame: Nurturant with self-reliance

Expression: Patrícia believes in systems that work, opportunities for all, investment in people. But she also values individual achievement and merit. Her politics are progressive but pragmatic—she wants Portugal to create conditions for people like her to succeed, not handouts.

Information Ecosystem

Source Type	Specific Sources	Trust Level
TV	Swiss public TV, RTP online	Medium
Online	Público, Observador, Swiss/international news, tech blogs	Medium-High
Social Media	LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram	Medium
Community	Portuguese professionals network in Switzerland	High

Media consumption pattern: Quality news consumer. Reads Público daily for Portugal news. LinkedIn for professional network. Twitter for tech and politics. Compares Portuguese and Swiss governance constantly.

Relationship to Portuguese Politics

Voting Status

Portuguese citizen with full voting rights
Votes by mail or at consulate
Votes in every election—presidential, legislative, European
Considers it civic duty despite distance

Political Awareness

High engagement, growing frustration
Follows brain drain debates closely
Critical of policy failures that keep her abroad
Would vote for whoever actually changes conditions for return

Top Concerns (Ranked)

Parents aging alone: "I can't be there. It's the worst feeling."
Return impossibility: "I'd take 75% pay cut. My career would end."
Portugal's stagnation: "Same problems, same excuses, same nothing changes."
Partner integration: "He doesn't speak Portuguese. What happens if we try to move?"
Identity drift: "I've been abroad nine years. Am I still really Portuguese?"

Hopes

For herself:

"I hope I can find a way back. Maybe remote work, maybe later career. I want to be there for my parents while I can."

For Portugal:

"I hope Portugal becomes a country where people like me can build careers. Not tax breaks for returnees—actual jobs, actual funding, actual opportunities."

For the next generation:

"I hope kids today don't have to choose like I did. That being excellent in Portugal doesn't mean leaving Portugal."

Fears

Personal fears:

"Something happening to my parents while I'm in a meeting in Zurich. Growing old abroad with no connection to home. My Portuguese getting worse, my saudade becoming abstract."

Political fears:

"Portugal giving up on trying. Accepting brain drain as permanent. Becoming a retirement colony for rich foreigners while the young leave forever."

Deepest fear (often unspoken):

"That I sold my country for a salary. That there was a path I didn't take, a sacrifice I wasn't willing to make. That I'm exactly who the brain drain statistics describe—and I chose it."

"In Their Own Voice"

How she'd describe leaving:

"I didn't leave Portugal—Portugal left me. I wanted to do research. Portugal has almost no research funding. I wanted to build a career in data science. Portugal's salaries are a joke. I followed opportunity because opportunity wasn't home. Don't blame emigrants for leaving. Blame the country that couldn't keep them."

What she'd say to politicians who promise to 'reverse brain drain':

"I've heard this for nine years. Tax breaks for returnees? Lovely. But my field doesn't exist in Portugal. What job do I return to? How do I replace CHF 180,000 with €25,000? You want us back? Create the conditions. Fund research. Grow the tech sector. Pay competitive salaries. Everything else is empty rhetoric."

On guilt:

"Yes, I feel guilty. I should be there for my parents. I should be contributing to Portugal, not Switzerland. But guilt doesn't pay bills, doesn't build careers, doesn't solve the structural failures that pushed me out. I made a rational choice. I hate that I had to."

Scenario Response Predictions

Candidate	Predicted Response	Key Trigger
Ventura	Negative	Distrusts populism; represents what's wrong
Gouveia e Melo	Cautiously Positive	Competent, execution-focused
Marques Mendes	Neutral	More of the same; will anything change?
Seguro	Neutral	PS rhetoric hasn't delivered
Catarina Martins	Neutral-Positive	Values progressive stance; skeptical on economy
Cotrim Figueiredo	Positive	Reform focus; understands competitiveness problem
António Filipe	Negative	PCP economics wouldn't solve brain drain

Notes for Scenario Development

Emblematic of skilled emigration / brain drain
Swiss-Portuguese salary comparison as barrier to return
Aging parents guilt as constant weight
Mixed-nationality relationship complicates return
Could interact with: parents (video calls), Swiss partner, Portuguese professionals network, friends who stayed
In "Day in the Future" vignettes: work in Swiss pharma, call from parents about medical issue, return debate with partner, Portuguese community event in Zurich