In migration news, Spain is planning the largest regularisation of illegal immigrants in its history.
A law supported by Spain’s coalition parties would allow around 700.000 undocumented migrants to receive legal status.
Spain is moving against the current of Europe’s anti-immigration – liberalizing its migration policy even further.
And that’s because 500.000 of the 700.000 illegal immigrants are thought to be from Latin America.
Facilitating migration from the former Spanish Empire, specifically Latin America, has been a key component of Spain’s migration policy for the past 3 decades.
Latinos in Spain
Spain, which has the second lowest birth rate in the European Union, opened its doors to immigration in the 90s, as its workforce couldn’t keep up with its booming economy.
This remains true today, with immigrants filling jobs in the hospitality, construction, agriculture and technology sectors.
In recent years, Spain saw an increase of Venezuelan, Colombian and Argentinian migrants specifically, who have left their countries for both political and economic reasons.
Due to Spain’s liberal policies over recent decades, 18% of its population—about eight million people—are now foreign-born and a striking 43% of these immigrants are from Latin America.
Spain’s liberal migration policies towards Latinos
Spain has exceptionally liberal migration and citizenship policies for both regular and illegal immigrants from Latin America.
Legal Latino immigrants can apply for citizenship after only two years of residency, instead of ten years for other nationalities. This is why almost 80% of the 1.6 million immigrants who obtained Spanish citizenship from 2000 to 2019 were of Latin American origin.
In addition, for illegal immigrants from Latin America, Spain practically has open borders. Visa free travel is often the way in, after which there are pathways to regular status within 3 years and later even to citizenship.
The Pros and Cons of Latino Immigration to Spain
Spain has such liberal policies towards Latino immigration due to its largely positive experiences and cultural compatibility.
Latino immigrants, for example, secure employment faster than other non-European immigrants, aided by their shared language.
Some of the migrants are highly skilled, with nearly half of Venezuelans arriving in Spain holding university degrees.
This explains why Latinos are a growing presence in the Spanish tech sector. Integrating illegal workers into the legal labour market could also add thousands of new contributors to social security and tax payments.
For these economic and cultural reasons, Latinos enjoy broad acceptance across the political spectrum. A study indicates that ‘hostility toward Latin American immigrants is relatively low‘ in Spanish society. This acceptance is mutual—Latinos are much more likely to identify with Spanish identity compared to other immigrant groups.
However, the Latin American immigrants to Spain children face several difficulties:
Many of the immigrants are low skilled- 38% of them have only primary or basic secondary school education. This makes it difficult to get jobs beyond basic services, in some of the least productive sectors of the economy.
This has also left Latino immigrants earning 37% less than Spaniards – even less than immigrants from Africa.
Second generation immigrants have borne the brunt of high unemployment in the country, with only 36% of second generation immigrants having formal employment – the lowest proportion within the EU.
As a result many turn to Spain’s large informal economy, while others resort to violence and gangs.
Yet despite its problems and challenges, Spanish society sees immigration from Latin America as necessary and mostly positive- and it aligns with Spain’s further deepening ties with the region.