The Spanish government has announced that it will allow any foreign national who can show that they have a job contract and have lived in the country for more than six months to obtain legal residency. Applications must be made through employers and immigrants who are successful will be granted a work permit and renewable one-year residency.
The move has been met with alarm in other European capitals, fed by reports of bus-loads of foreign nationals amassing at Spanish borders. Spain is seen as an easy target for migrants, mainly Muslims, coming largely from Africa, who last year made up one third of net migration into the EU as a whole. The German Interior Minister Otto Schily is reported to be concerned that immigrants benefiting from the amnesty will then be able to move freely throughout Europe. The unilateral Spanish move appears to breach the principle of a common EU immigration policy, a principle which Spain has supported up to now.
Spain’s rationale is that illegal immigrants and their employers, particularly in the agricultural, domestic and construction sectors are harming the economy by not paying taxes and social security. Employers who hire illegal labour after the amnesty will be liable to heavy fines.
The government has dedicated €330,000 to setting up offices and online information centres to process the expected flood of applications.
