• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Spain: Update to information contained in ESP41361.E of 3 June 2003; whether there have been any changes to the laws or regulations governing residency permits for non-EU citizens since the date of the original Request (June 2003-2005)

Various sources, including the Government of Spain's Interior Ministry (Ministerio del Interior) Website did not note any changes to the laws or regulations governing residency permits for non-EU citizens between 3 June 2003 and September 2005 (Spain n.d.a; ibid. n.d.b; Spain-Visas 23 Aug. 2005; COMPAS 2005, 1).

However, in December 2004, the Government of Spain amended by decree certain provisions in its immigration legislation that included the introduction of a one-time "regularization program" or "normalization process" (proceso de normalizacion) (MPI 1 Sept. 2005; Spain Jan. 2005; COMPAS 2005, 4) that would offer residency permits to "registered immigrant workers with employment contracts" (EIRO 20 July 2005; MPI 1 Sept. 2005; Trafficking in Persons Report 3 June 2005). The period of registration under this regularization program was from 7 February to 7 May 2005, and employers and workers had to meet certain requirements before applying (World Bank 9 Aug. 2005; COMPAS 2005, 4). For example, workers had to demonstrate "proof of registration with a local municipality in Spain before August 7, 2004" (ibid.; World Bank 9 Aug. 2005; MPI 1 Sept. 2005) and have "no prior criminal record in their home country or in Spain" (ibid.). In addition, each employer had to establish that they were paying into Social Security, and had neither broken any immigration laws in the preceding year (COMPAS 2005, 4) nor had been "sanctioned for violating the rights of workers or immigrants" (ibid.).

About 800,000 "irregular immigrants" were reportedly eligible for this normalization process (MPI 1 Sept. 2005; EIRO 20 July 2005; IPS 7 Feb. 2005). Those unable to qualify would, according to Immigration Secretary Consuelo Rumi, run the risk of deportation (ibid.). A September 2005 Migration Policy Institute (MPI) report also noted that the "program does not pertain to foreign children, spouses, students, the self-employed, or those with a residence permit only" (1 Sept. 2005).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) [Oxford, UK]. 2005. Amanda Levinson. Regularisation Programmes in Spain. <http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/papers/Country%20Case%20Spain.pdf> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line (EIRO). 20 July 2005. Daniel Albarracin. 2004 Annual Review of Spain. "Legislative Developments." <http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/2005/01/feature/es0501102f.html> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

Inter Press Service (IPS). 7 February 2005. Tito Drago. "Immigration-Europe: Opening Doors to Lock Them Tighter." <http://www.ipsnews.net/print.asp?idnews=27346> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

Migration Policy Institute (MPI). 1 September 2005. Joaquin Arango and Maia Jachimowicz. Migration Information Source. "Regularizing Immigrants in Spain: A New Approach." <http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/print.cfm?ID=331> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

Spain. January 2005. Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales. Secretaria de Estado de Inmigracion y Emigracion. "Proceso de normalizacion de trabajadores extranjeros – 2005." <http://www.mtas.es/migraciones/proceso2005/Presenta.htm> [Accessed 28 Sept. 2005]
_____. N.d.a. Ministerio del Interior. Secretaria General Tecnica. "Tarjetas de residencia y numero de identificacion (NIE)." <http://www.mir.es/sites/mir/imprimir/texto/imprimir_texto.jsp.html_1287180661.html> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2005]
_____. N.d.b. Ministerio del Interior. Secretaria General Tecnica. "Normativa basica reguladora." <http://www.mir.es/sites/mir/imprimir/texto/imprimir_texto.jsp.html_743612936.html> [Accessed 30 Sept. 2005]

Spain-Visas. 23 August 2005. "Residence permits, Stay permits." <http://www.spain-visas.com/Residence-permits-Stay-permits-pag6.htm> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

Trafficking in Persons Report. 3 June 2005. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. <http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46616.htm> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

World Bank. 9 August 2005. International Migration and Remittances. "Spain's 2005 Amnesty." <http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,,contentMDK:20609738~menuPK:1533988~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:476883,00.html> [Accessed 26 Sept. 2005]

Additional Sources Consulted

Internet sites, including: Embassy of Spain in Canada, Spain – Direccion General de la Policia (DGP), Spain – Ministerio del Interior.