The alliance formed by five organizations specialized in the social and legal support of migrants and refugees -Andalucía Acoge, Cáritas, CEAR, Convive Fundación CEPAIM and Red Acoge- appreciates that the approval of the Immigration Regulation by the Government represents progress, but it has a limited scope as it excludes people in situations of particular vulnerability. These five entities warned two years ago of the growing lack of protection of thousands of foreigners living in our country and asked for the modification of this document to facilitate legal and safe channels and avoid irregularities.
The advances basically concern foreign students who will have the opportunity to work; to those who already hold residence and work permits and whose renewal is extended to four years; to those who wish to reunite their families by making their economic needs more flexible; foreigners who have been in Spain for two years and who agree to undergo training; to those who have been in Spain for three years and obtain an employment contract; and to people from third countries who want to enter the labor market from their country of origin through the catalog of difficult-to-fill positions.
All these changes aim to facilitate these people’s access to the labor market, but the regulatory changes that ensure the full social and labor integration of migrants already living in Spain on an equal footing remain unaddressed.
pending challenges
Among the pending challenges that could be improved and addressed are the regularization of children not born in Spain, whose parents have a residence permit and a regulation of reunification that guarantees the full right to family life. Also issues related to the situation of applicants for international protection or stateless persons, the regulatory development of the right of access to basic social benefits and the adoption of measures so that the most vulnerable people are not excluded from e-Government.
The five signatory organizations deem it necessary to continue to advance in the modification of the Immigration Regulation through dialogue and participation on crucial issues such as making family reunification more flexible, access to visas for jobseeking or the necessary synergy between legislation on immigration and asylum legislation or access to social protection for foreigners.
In this sense, it is necessary that the migration policy not only focuses on the needs of the Spanish labor market, but also that all the regulatory obstacles that prevent the migrant population from integrating and integrating into Spanish society with equal rights are addressed.
