The alliance formed by five organizations specialized in the social and legal support of migrants and refugees -Andalucía Acoge, Cáritas, CEAR, Convive Fundación CEPAIM and Red Acoge- appreciate that the approval of the Immigration Regulations by the Government represents progress, but it has a limited scope as it leaves out people in a situation of special vulnerability. These five entities alerted two years ago about the growing lack of protection of thousands of foreigners living in our country and demanded the modification of this document to facilitate legal and safe channels and avoid irregularities.
The advances fundamentally affect foreign students who will have the opportunity to work; to people who already have residence and work authorizations and whose renewal is extended to four years; to those who wish to regroup their families by making financial requirements more flexible; foreigners who have been in Spain for two years and who agree to undergo training; to those who have been in Spain for three years and get a work contract; and to people from third countries who want to access the labor market from their country of origin through the catalog of positions that are difficult to fill.
All these modifications are aimed at facilitating the access of these people to the labor market, but regulatory changes that guarantee the full social and labor integration of migrants who already live in Spain under equal conditions continue to go unaddressed.
pending challenges
Among the pending challenges that could have been improved and addressed are the regularization of children not born in Spain, whose parents have residence authorization and a regulation of reunification that guarantees the full right to family life. Also issues related to the situation of applicants for international protection or statelessness, the regulatory development of the right of access to basic social benefits and the adoption of measures so that the most vulnerable people are not excluded from electronic administration.
The five signatory organizations consider it necessary to continue advancing in the modification of the Immigration Regulations through dialogue and participation in crucial issues such as making family reunification more flexible, access to job search visas or the necessary synergy between the legislation of immigration and asylum legislation or access to social protection for foreigners.
In this sense, it is necessary that migration policy not only focus on the needs of the Spanish labor market, but also that all regulatory obstacles that prevent the migrant population from integrating and incorporating into Spanish society with equal rights are addressed.
