Following the news that the Spanish government will grant the right to live and work legally in Spain to upwards of half a million undocumented migrants, there have been a flurry of comments from other foreigners in Spain who don’t agree with the move. Is their discontent justified?
‘Expat’ is a word that for the most part we stopped using at The Local some time ago.
It’s too politically charged. Some see its usage as harmless, others think it’s discriminatory in that it only applies to white, wealthy Westerners who move overseas as a lifestyle choice, as opposed to immigrants.
In truth, it would be wrong to suggest that all foreigners who move to Spain face the same realities.
Depending on their passport, their earnings and their skillset, they will apply for different visas and obtain residency in different ways, their living situation will differ and the ease with which they settle into life in their new country can be worlds apart.
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In broad terms, people you’d associate with the term ‘expat’ have it easier, whereas those you picture when you think of ‘immigrants’ don’t.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for one side and doom and gloom for the other.
For example, a US national who moves to Spain on a digital nomad visa is still a non-EU citizen who has to renew their visa and keep earning above a certain threshold to hold onto residency rights.
They will quite possibly be able to afford better accommodation than locals, but if they decide to stay permanently in Spain they’ll have to wait ten years for citizenship, they’ll have to sit their driving exam again and they may have to wait years to have their overseas qualifications recognised – not life-defining struggles but still far from ideal.
Compare that American to for example undocumented migrants from Venezuela. They may have entered Spain on a tourist visa, not caught their flight back and overstayed, as in the case of most undocumented in Spain.
READ ALSO: Most undocumented migrants in Spain not Africans arriving on boats
From that point onwards, they are in a legal limbo for several years until they can claim arraigo residency, which means that prior to that the only way to make a living is to work in the black. That means no healthcare or social security benefits, low pay, poor living conditions, and exposure to exploitation from employers.
On a more positive note, if their residency status in Spain can be legalised, they can get Spanish citizenship after two years, whereas it takes 10 years via residency for most other foreigners (even Europeans).
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Which brings us to the big news this week: the regularisation of more than half a million undocumented migrants in Spain, a decision preceded by more than 700,000 signatures in support of the move and the backing of work unions and the Church.
Q&A: How Spain’s mass regularisation of undocumented migrants will work
There have been plenty of negative reactions to the news by English-speaking foreigners on social media, from tropes about these migrants getting more benefits than locals and whether Spain will lose its identity.
There are also lots of UK nationals, Americans and other anglophiles who support the Spanish government’s regularisation and are quick to point out to foreign critics the irony of them scorning ‘other migrants’ while also being migrants themselves.
Others choose a more nuanced approach, along the lines of “Why should I bother applying for the Non-Lucrative Visa if I could get residency for free?”.
Do they have a point? After all, they followed the rules and probably spent a lot of money gaining legal residency.
But they should keep in mind that those who’ve lived in Spain without papers for years have probably had it far tougher than them.
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Whatever your views about the Spanish government’s decision to give legal residency to 500,000+ migrants already living in the country – and everyone is entitled to their opinion – as foreigners all of us should be grateful that the ruling Socialists are protecting our rights, something that Vox may not do if they were to get into power.
READ ALSO: Vox proposes deporting more foreigners than are actually living in Spain
Spain ensured Brits were protected under the Withdrawal Agreement when Brexit happened, and have taken in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians since Russia invaded their country.
Under Sánchez, Spain is a country that shows empathy to foreigners, and with the current state of the world, that is hard to come by.
Add to that that Spain needs millions more migrants to keep its pensions and welfare system afloat, and that foreigners without papers are doing the jobs that Spaniards don’t want, and the mass regularisation of these people makes sense.
