The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration finalizes the approval of the new immigration regulations in collaboration with representatives of businessmen and workers of the Tripartite Labor Commission on Immigration ( CLTI) and autonomous communities. The minister of the branch, Elma Saiz, has repeatedly shown her willingness to obtain the green light for this regulation this year, and everything indicates that she will obtain it in November, as confirmed by sources from the Department of Immigration. elEconomista.es.
This new regulation provides relax the requirements that immigrants face when regularizing their situationmainly to authorize stay and issue work permits, to improve pathways for entry and regular stay, in addition to simplifying administrative procedures. Regulatory renewal is particularly important given the surge in illegal immigrants arriving post-pandemic.
From the Migration Department of the Ministry of Social Security, they explain that these weeks they “analyze and study all the proposals presented on time, with a view to including all those that are viable and improving the text” after the public hearing phase. “We hope to conclude the text in the coming days, so that the regulation can come into force as quickly as possible, and always respecting the deadline set by the minister,” confirm these same sources, referring to the month of November.
The government plans to offer more facilities in this regard to foreign victims of labor exploitation and to incorporate new settlement formulas to facilitate access to employment for foreigners already residing in Spain. The Executive will give more weight at the roots as a formula that people who are already in Spain and who are not authorized to work can do so. Underlining, in any case, that the general lines that elEconomista.es was able to know this summer could vary after the incorporation of proposals in this new phase of negotiation in which the regulation is located.
To put the roots in context, At the end of 2023, thanks to this figure, 210,334 people had a residence permit77,000 of them were doing it for the first time. Social and family roots are the figures that predominate when it comes to allowing foreigners to reside. 90% of people with an initial authorization of social origin are employed and the number of people affiliated with this origin has increased by 159%.
New number: roots of second chances
Work roots have been virtually out of use over the past decade, with residual effect, and will now be replaced by second chance roots, assuming that social roots are already functioning and generating jobs. THE “second chance” There are two cases, although in both cases a two-year stay in Spain is required. In the first hypothesis, it requires six months to a year of accredited work in different conditions (respectively from 30 to 15 hours per week), this period of activity taking place in a regular situation.
In the second case, you ask to prove that you have had a temporary residence permit during the previous two years. Thus, it attempts to cover cases of irregularity that result from the impossibility of renewing the available authorization. Students are excluded from this formula: if they finish their studies, they must return to their country of origin, unless they take advantage of the job search period.
Placement through training began in 2022 (nearly 44,000 applications at the end of June 2024) in agricultural positions, cleaning agents, waiters, transport workers, construction workers or kitchen helpers. One of the objectives is to accelerate these procedures given their exponential growth and to avoid inadequate training to integrate foreigners into the labor market: the person in an irregular situation will be able to follow the training at the same time as they request asylum, at the same time offering the possibility of working a maximum of 20 hours per week, understandable if they successfully complete the training studies.
In this way it will be a newly created socio-formative or socio-professional roots. The Communities must first assess whether these foreigners meet the now relaxed requirements. Only two years of continuous stay will be necessary before applying for roots, whereas before it was necessary three.
In the case of issuance of residence permits due to exceptional circumstancesparticularly those linked to roots, will strengthen the mechanism with particular attention to foreign women victims of gender-based violence, sexual violence and potential victims of trafficking.
The regulation plans to improve the regulation of seasonal activities, favor “collective contracts” at the sourcea procedure for granting initial residence and work authorizations and residence and work authorizations for seasonal activities to foreigners who are not or do not reside in Spain through their collective treatment in origin on the basis of offers submitted by one or more entrepreneurs. This formula is closely linked to seasonal employment and circular hiring, the model that Saiz defends with President Pedro Sánchez during his tour of African countries.
THE students They will receive special treatment. People who come to Spain to pursue higher education will not have to renew their permit every year, but will benefit from an authorization that lasts for the duration of their studies. This will also facilitate expressway or “fast lane” be able to link this permit to a work authorization once their studies are completed, so that students can work from the first moment, once their training is completed.
The Migration Department has several tasks, according to the Annual Regulatory Plan of the Ministry headed by Saiz. He promised to carry out a plan for the “repatriation” of young people who left Spain in times of crisis, as published by this media, although there is no other news on this subject. He also proposed making conditions more flexible to attract skilled non-European workers, as this medium progressed.
