In the summer of 2022 Spain adopted a new law allowing thousands of migrants to enter the labor market. Two years later, did this reform deliver the expected results?
Two years ago, the Spanish government enacted a new law facilitating access to the labor market, and to regular immigration status, to thousands of migrants. Since August 2022, migrants in an irregular situation who can prove they have been in the country for at least two years can obtain a 12-month residence permit, provided they undergo training in sectors facing labor shortages, such as tourism, transport, agriculture, and construction.
At the time, the announcement of this reform had sparked hope for thousands of undocumented migrants in Spain. Before that change, Spanish law required, among other things, three years of residency, and a 40-hour-a-week employment contract.
Two years later, however, the results are mixed: for the news agency EFE, the reform "did not fully meet expectations."
Also read: Spanish government eases route to work for undocumented migrants
Few employment contracts after training
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, the new law benefited 23,097 migrants between the summer of 2022 and the end of 2023, who had spent an average of two and a half years in an irregular situation. This is significantly shorter than the average wait of over four years for other migrants to obtain a residence permit.
However, despite these 23,000 beneficiaries completing the required training, only 1,347 secured employment contracts, according to EFE. This is surprising, given that the law specifically targeted sectors experiencing labor shortages. Most beneficiaries are men aged 25 to 34, primarily from Morocco (11,002), Colombia (2,608), Algeria (1,339), and Senegal (1,282).
"The law was used to regularize the situation of many people, but in the very short term," Ahmed Khalifa, president of the Moroccan association for the integration of migrants in Spain, said. "And the rest of the process led to irregularities, because many people could not meet the requested conditions." The spokesperson for the NGO Extranjeristas en red (Foreigners online), Paco Solans, also says the announcement of the reform "first sparked a lot of enthusiasm", but that its implementation by immigration services was "quite chaotic".
As a result, rather than obtaining regular status through work, most migrants choose to seek regularization through family reasons after three years in the country and completing their training.
In order for the reform to be able to receive a greater number of people, it is now necessary to "unify the criteria requested in all immigration offices in Spain" and "allow migrants to work while following the training," Jorge Marín, of the Spanish Confederation of Professional Organizations (CEOE), told EFE.
Also read: Spain: Parliament votes to consider regularizing undocumented migrants
Informal work: 'The only solution'
Accessing work in Spain is a challenge for many migrants. According to Eurostat, the office responsible for statistics of the twenty-seven EU countries, 18.9 percent of people born outside the EU are unemployed in the country, against 11.6 percent of Spaniards.
Lamine Sarr, a Senegalese migrant who settled in Barcelona, had no choice but to turn to street vending when he arrived in Spain. "Informal work was the only solution because I had no residence permit. I spent three years selling objects in the street, I had to make do with the tiny salary that I earned," he told InfoMigrants. "It was survival."
Now presiding over the Manteros walking vendors union, Lamine Sarr ended up obtaining a residence permit in 2019, with payrolls to back up his application. That was two years after launching the union's clothing brand.
Once one obtains residency, access to the labor market is nevertheless easier in Spain than elsewhere in Europe. According to a study by the Spanish bank, the employment rate of migrants is 78 percent, ahead of Germany (73 percent), Italy (71 percent) and France (70 percent).
At the end of 2023, migrant workers also represented 30 percent of jobs created in Spain from the pandemic, or 2.67 million people, according to social security figures cited in the report.
The majority of these workers who recently arrived in Spain are from South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Morocco and Algeria.
Also read: Spain: How to apply for a seasonal work visa