Spain’s migrant registry offices are starting to ‘collapse’ under the strain of regularisation requests with massive migrant queues forming in cities across the country.
As of yesterday, the migrant regularisation process was underway, with individuals waiting hours at more than 400 locations for appointments after submitting online applications.
The mayhem comes after the Spanish government approved plans to give legal status to 500,000 migrants last week.
Applications opened on Thursday after Spain’s socialist government rubber-stamped the initiative at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
In a desperate rush to finalise their paperwork, some migrants have been waiting up to five hours in Seville to get their documents officially stamped.
Sevilla municipal unions (SPPME-A, SEM, SAB) are calling the service situation a ‘collapse’ due to lack of staff reinforcements during predictable high demand.
They warned that ‘extraordinary pressure’ and overcrowding are lowering service quality and creating high tension among staff and the public in the Andalusian city.
The unions are now demanding the city council act immediately, arguing the situation was foreseeable following last week’s approval of the migrant regularisation initiative.
Massive queues of migrants have been forming at registry offices in Spain
In a desperate rush to finalise their paperwork, some migrants have been waiting up to five hours in Seville to get their documents officially stamped
The mayhem comes as the Spanish government approved plans to give legal status to 500,000 migrants last week
Unions are pleading for more staff, an improvement in security, and compensation for workers forced to face the chaos.
Seville City Council has meanwhile urged people to stay calm, insisting the service is operating ‘normally,’ The Spanish Eye reports.
Spain’s capital, Madrid, is also under mounting pressure, with officials warning of a collapse in its social services.
‘We’ve gone from 1,500 daily requests at social services centres to 5,500. I think a hasty decision was made, perhaps even intended to create a collapse,’ said Jose Fernandez, the municipal delegate for Social Policies.
Fernandez explained to news outlet 20minutos that the process was launched ‘without consulting the relevant authorities.’
‘I believe the best course of action would be to withdraw this decree and implement it through consensus,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Barcelona saw migrants camping overnight outside registry offices on Monday, local media reported.
One Columbian migrant waiting outside a shopping mall in Barcelona told local outlet El Periodico that he arrived ‘around 10 or 11pm last night so we wouldn’t be left out; we’ve been here for about 15 hours’.
Another migrant from Honduras told the outlet that he slept on the floor as he waited in line, adding: ‘A very large group of people almost trampled me… We risked our lives, but it will be worth it.’
The situation is growing tense, however, as the migrants become impatient due to the endless queues.
One woman, speaking to TV channel Noticias Cuatro from a queue in Almeria, said people were attempting to cut the line and some were becoming aggressive.
‘A guy started screaming and throwing bottles of water,’ she said.
The initiative has faced intense backlash from Spanish right-wing parties, and has even gone global, with billionaire Elon Musk slamming the move.
Commenting under a video of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on X, Musk wrote: ‘Dirty Sánchez is guilty of high treason.’
Musk had previously called Sanchez a ‘traitor’ and a ‘tyrant,’ due to his migrant policies.
Hitting back at critics, Sanchez sent a message over the weekend to what he called the ‘extreme right.’
‘Spain is the daughter of migration and will not become the mother of xenophobia,’ he said at a progressive summit in Barcelona.
The government’s amnesty is a central plank of Sanchez’s progressive agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration for its ageing population, even as other European governments move to tighten their borders.
Spain’s 50million-strong population has swelled in recent years to include around 10million people living in Spain who were born abroad.
There are around 840,000 undocumented migrants in Spain, the majority of whom are from Latin America, according to data from the Funcas think tank.
The situation is growing tense as migrants become impatient due to the endless queues
The government’s amnesty is a central plank of Sanchez’s progressive agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration for its ageing population
The initiative has faced intense backlash from Spanish right-wing parties
Should Spain prioritize the needs of undocumented migrants or focus on challenges facing its citizens?
The country’s opposition Popular Party has deemed the drive reckless, despite former conservative governments pushing through similar measures.
Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of the community of Madrid and a prominent figure in the party, has threatened to appeal the drive in court.
Santiago Abascal, the leader of the populist hard-Right party Vox, accused the Socialist-led coalition of accelerating what he called an ‘invasion’.
Pepa Millán, spokesman for Vox, said the plan ‘attacks our identity’, pledging that the party would appeal before the Supreme Court in an attempt to block it.
Meanwhile, Sanchez argues immigrants are key to Spain’s economy, which expanded 2.8 per cent last year – more than twice the average expected in the entire eurozone.
‘Spain is ageing… Without more people working and contributing to the economy, our prosperity slows, and our public services suffer,’ he wrote in an open letter addressed to citizens last week.
The country has been outperforming other EU nations in recent years, with unemployment – a longstanding issue in the Spanish economy – dipping below 10 per cent for the first time since 2008.
But with about 90 per cent of new jobs going to immigrants, income per person has barely grown in Spain.
Moreover, each year sees 140,000 new households, but only about 80,000 new homes built.
A lack of affordable housing has become a central grievance among voters, contributing to social tension.
