Unregularized migrant workers in Spain will now have the opportunity to have proper papers, following a new reform decided by the Spanish government.
The said reform adopted on Tuesday concerns the facilitation of the regularization of irregular migrants by granting them residence permits. The reform concerns thousands of migrants present on Iberian soil and would allow those who are threatened by the expiration of their papers and who are looking for work to have more time. This particularly concerns several Moroccan workers, often arriving in illegal conditions, to be able to work legally.
The initiative, led by the Minister of Inclusion and Migration, Elma Saiz, should make it possible to simplify the administrative procedures for obtaining residence permits and to strengthen the rights of migrant workers. Indeed, it provides for the extension of job search visas from three months to one year and the creation of new statuses facilitating access to regularization.
“Various organizations estimate that Spain needs 250,000 to 300,000 foreign workers per year to maintain its standard of living,” she said, adding that the reform, when it achieves its objective, should allow the regularization of 300,000 migrants each year over the next three years.
Note that currently in 2023, the number of people working in Spain and regularized has reached 210,000 registered in similar procedures. The significant number of foreign workers in the Iberian country can be explained by its geographical position favorable to irregular immigration.
Migrants from several African countries take the land and sea route to reach the Spanish coast, considered the gateway to Europe. Some use Spain only as the first stop on a long journey aimed at other European countries.
This new measure should increase the number of these workers in order to help the Spanish economy, given that legal workers pay taxes and employee contributions, which is not the case for those working illegally.
Spain, with its Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, is currently one of the rare European countries to adopt measures in favor of migrants, at a pivotal moment for the Old Continent which stands out for a tightening of conditions and a closure to noses of foreign workers or simply of welcoming foreigners, in particular because of a shift to the right in the politics of several countries.
