This is due to that the previous upper management thought that expats were of a higher standard than the local Portuguese - this is of course completly incorrect and has since stopped
That is not strictly true. Of course someone's nationality does not determin whether they are good at there job or not. However, with only 3 main airports in Potugal there is not a lot of people about with aviation experience. Most, if not all, of the Xpats bring in considerable experience, some with 20+ years in avaition so it wasn't racism. Also, the criteria set for the employment of Xpats is higher than that of the locals from what I have seen. The recent change in mentality seem to be mainly driven by money. The company seems quite happy to hire people who's only aviation experience is Flight Sim and then pay them peanuts.
I can not think of a single person hired in the last 12 months who was not already living in Portugal (some Xpats included who were already here). Owing to the relatively (compared with other countries) low wages and no relocation allowance NetJets is pretty much only hiring locals. They offer jobs to people currently working outside Portugal but no one takes them so dont expect a huge money offer. In fact more and more of the Xpats are leaving so it will pretty much be all locals soon the way it is going.
Because of this we are really suffering because of a lack of proper aviation experience. Do the maths 3 main airports, how many people can there be with the experience levels needed in Portugal? Compare that with the number of people in France, Italy, Germany and UK. The company is mad not to try and attract more experienced people with better wages, no matter what country they are from.
You need a Portguese Dispatch licence to work as a dispatcher here (as far as I know) Usefully, considering the avaiton content, the exam is in Portuguese so not many Xpats take it.