For decades, it was working-class Brazilians who went abroad in search of opportunity, fueling the domestic economy with remittances.
But today more immigrants are coming to Brazil, Latin America's economic powerhouse. There are about 2 million foreign residents - both legal and illegal immigrants. Many are blue-collar workers from Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay. Some are from as far away as Angola.
They took advantage of a 2009 amnesty program from the Brazilian government to become a legal resident and worker.
They typically work in sweatshops, churning out textiles or stringing together costume jewelry.
The Center for Immigrants' Human Rights says Brazil's immigrant population will continue to boom. "We've got the World Cup in 2014 and then the Olympics," says Paulo Illes, a coordinator at the center. "So there are going to be opportunities in totally new sectors like civil construction."
And that will be positive for other economies as immigrants send money back home.
Sao Paulo's Bolivian immigrants tend to congregate on Coimbra Street, a couple of blocks from a bustling wholesale textile market.
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