Final dash for documents as Spain's mass migrant regularisation ends - EUROPE SAYS
Although she was “a little worried” at the start, the English degree holder now aims to work at Madrid airport. A land of emigrants for centuries, Spain is a key entry point into the European Union for tens of. . .
Although she was “a little worried” at the start, the English degree holder now aims to work at Madrid airport. A land of emigrants for centuries, Spain is a key entry point into the European Union for tens of thousands of irregular arrivals alongside Italy and Greece. Many come via a long and perilous Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands, although numbers dropped last year after peaking in 2024. Since April, streams of men, women and children have queued in the streets to obtain documents and attend appointments for their regularisation, in addition to online applicants. – Economic boost –Although fears arose of a saturation of the services handling the scheme, Mohamed, a Moroccan who lives in the northern region of Cantabria, felt the administrative journey was “relatively easy”. The 23-year-old jobseeker, who declined to give his surname, has been in Spain irregularly for about four years and hopes “to be able to work legally, to pay contributions”. Regularisation will also spare him from unscrupulous employers who “take advantage” of irregular migrants “by paying low salaries, without any rights, or there are places that don’t pay at all,” he told AFP. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has become a standard-bearer of more open immigration policies as his European neighbours — including some Socialist peers — toughen measures under pressure from ascendant far-right parties. Tags:migrant