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Local Spain
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
TIE cards, Catalan lessons and deportations: Catalonia's new immigration powers
This week the Spanish government reached a deal with Catalan separatists to give greater migration controls to the northern region. The agreement will include expanded powers for Catalan police in border controls, migrant detention centres and residency permits, among other measures. The law still requires full ratification in the Spanish Congress, which means the handover of immigration responsibilities to Catalonia is still far from certain. For supporters of the Socialist-headed national government, this represents a functioning state delegating powers. Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, said this week that 'border control is not being ceded. The Mossos [Catalonia's regional police force] will be present and will act in collaboration with the rest of the state security forces. And that is a sign that the state is functioning.' For critics, however, the move is a further concession from Madrid to separatists propping up Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's fragile coalition in Congress. The transfer of immigration powers fulfils another major demand of pro-independence party Junts per Catalunya. Celebrating the agreement as a step on the way to independence, exiled Junts party leader Carles Puigdemont said from Brussels: "Our political system and our institutional system will manage a power that only states exercise.' Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the opposition centre-right Partido Popular, described the deal as an "unprecedented humiliation" for Spain that serves to "widen inequality between Spaniards." Far-left Podemos, the former junior coalition partner in government, has also attacked the deal and raised doubts about whether its deputies will support it in a vote. It should be noted here that despite their outsized influence in the national Congress, in particular their ability to essentially block government legislation and, neither of Catalonia's two major separatist parties (Junts and the left-wing Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) are in power in the Generalitat. In August 2024 the Catalan Socialists won regional elections and removed the independence majority, ending years of separatist dominance and, according to some, finally moving on from the independence Procés. That is to say, despite the granting of these bolstered immigration powers, they will, for now, be implemented by a non-separatist Generalitat. So what immigration powers could Catalonia gain? Border controls One of the headline measures in the deal is that Mossos d'Esquadra will partly take power over border and security controls in airports and ports in the region. As Saiz was keen to highlight, this will be done in coordination with Spain's national police body, so is therefore not a total transfer of powers. The Mossos will, despite taking on new roles, still be adhering to state law. The deal also includes an increase of 1,800 Mossos agents, taking the force to a total of 26,800 officers. Residency permits and TIE cards The regional authority will also take some control of managing and issuing residency permits and TIE, the foreign identity cardsin Spain. Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia reports that the regional government will reportedly set up a "one-stop shop" for the issuing of long-term stay, temporary residency, long-term residence permits and NIEs (foreigner identity numbers). Deportations and migrant detention centres Catalonia will now also be responsible for control of migrant detention centres and deporting undocumented migrants. The Generalitat will also manage the controversial Internment Centre for Foreigners (CIE) in Barcelona, the only one in the region. If the law is passed, the Catalan administration will be in charge of the direction, coordination, management and inspection of the centre, which is currently run by the Interior Ministry. The Catalan government will be given powers to appoint public employees at the centre, including security, health, social, legal, cultural and linguistic services. Learning Catalan On that theme, Junts is also pushing for rules to make residency conditional on a Catalan language requirement. Party spokeswoman Miriam Nogueras told Spanish state TV that foreigners may need to prove a certain level of Catalan in order to be eligible for residency, and did not make any distinction between EU and non-EU migrants. "We are in Catalonia, and in Catalonia, there is an official language, which is Catalan. In the same way that if you go to live in France, the condition is to learn French," Nogueras said.
Local Spain
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
Residency permits for 'integrated' irregular migrants in Spain soar
New figures have revealed that the number of arraigo permits, a type of residency permit given out to formerly undocumented immigrants in Spain, has increased by 500 percent in just a decade. In 2013 there were just 43,858 foreigners with one of Spain's four types of arraigo (social, educational, labour and family) but by 2023 that figure had increased to 239,084, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. This was the headline figure highlighted by Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration Elma Saiz, in the presentation of a report of the Strategic Framework for Citizenship and Inclusion against Racism and Xenophobia 2023-2027. Spanish residency can be awarded to non-EU foreigners who have even arrived or lived illegally in the country for providing evidence of social integration and making roots in the country. This is known as permiso de residencia por arraigo in Spanish. Furthermore, in the space of a year, processing times for the arraigo procedure were reduced by 35 percent. This follows further changes by the government to cut the time period necessary to receive an arraigo. The required time in Spain used to be three years, but the government recently reduced it to two years, a modification will come into force on May 20th 2025. Spain is now home to seven million foreign residents, equal to 14 percent of the population. However, despite the growing foreign population and streamlining of residency processes, many still live with social divides compared to native Spaniards. Though Saiz stated that the growth was positive, she also recognised that there are still several 'persistent challenges' for Spain's foreign population. The difference in salary, for example, is €10,000 per year on average. There's also a 20 percent difference in school dropout rates and homelessness affects migrants 7.5 times more than Spaniards. The arraigo is applicable to all those who have been living without the proper residency documents in Spain for two years or more. It is one of the easiest ways to legalise migration status without facing harsh consequences of overstaying or having to leave Spain and re-enter again on a different visa. In order to get one, you must have a genuine connection to Spain. This could be either socially, economically or through familial ties. You must have proof of this such as a job contract, library card, membership to an organisation here, birth certificates of family members, and so on. The main requirements are that you must have been in the country for a period of at least two years and can't have left the country for more than 120 days in that period.
