The Spanish government will allow the integration of migrants into the labor market

The Spanish government plans to overhaul its immigration rules this Tuesday. It speeds up and facilitates the integration of migrants into the labor market.

The reform aims to improve the employment of natives, simplifying the regularization of those already in Spain, allowing foreign students to work and simplifying the requirements to be employed as an employee.

A proposal by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Protection and Migration proposes to relax the requirements currently required to obtain residence and work permits to compensate for growing vacancies in Spain’s labor market.

Residence with training commitment

Among the proposals appears the figure of “entrenching through training”, which would allow those who have been in an irregular situation in Spain for two years and make an effective commitment to training in sectors that require work in order to obtain a residence permit.

According to the reformed regulation, with regard to employment opportunities, the foreigner must have stayed in Spain for at least two years and have worked regularly or irregularly for a proven period of six months.

In terms of social roots, three years of residence in Spain and family ties must be proven or a statement proving their entry into the community must be provided, but at least a one-year contract.

This will help to better understand the needs of the labor market in order to improve the hiring practices at the source.

For foreign students, the ministry wants them to be able to combine their studies with a job (with a maximum of 30 hours per week), which is now prohibited, with exceptions.

In conjunction with this move, it aims to facilitate self-employment for foreigners, currently subject to many requirements and high investments.

Last June, foreign workers covered by Spanish social security numbered 2.46 million, the highest since data became available.

34.8% of foreign workers are from the EU and the rest are from non-EU countries. Among Latin Americans, there are Colombians (117,376) and Venezuelans (115,194).

Spain suffers from strong migration pressure, mainly from the African continent. By the end of 2021, nearly 42,000 people had arrived irregularly, of which 40,000 had arrived by sea, according to official data.