Spanish authorities intend to regularize up to 300,000 migrants a year to make up for the country’s labor shortage due to an aging population, Spanish Social Security and Migration Minister Elma Sais said Tuesday.
“Spain has a choice between an open prosperous country or a closed poor country. We have chosen the second,” Western media quoted her as saying.
According to her, the policy involving migrants will last three years. She specified that Spain needs 250 – 300 thousand foreign workers a year, able to pay taxes, in order to preserve the welfare state.
The new measures of the authorities provides for simplification of procedures for issuing immigrants residence and work permits, which will contribute to the receipt of foreign workers guaranteed labor rights. In addition, newcomers seeking work will be able to extend their visa from three to 12 months. Foreigners with study visas will be allowed to work up to 30 hours per week.
The media notes that the economy of Spain – a country with a population of 48.9 million – is the fastest growing in the EU. This trend is also facilitated by the influx of skilled migrants from Latin American countries. Fitch Ratings Inc. estimates that more migrants will enter Spain in 2022 than in the entire previous decade at one time.
However, October opinion polls conducted by Spanish media showed that 57% of respondents believe the current level of migration into the country is too high. 54% believe that the real number of immigrants is higher than the authorities declare.
Fourteen EU countries, as well as Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, have signed an appeal calling on the EU executive to propose new rules to strengthen return policies, Politico reports.
In their letter to the European Commission, 17 European countries ask for new rules that will allow governments to detain illegal migrants if they pose a threat to national security, force migrants to cooperate with authorities, and ensure that all EU countries use the same data management software.
The letter to the Commission states that migrants who do not have the right to stay in the EU “must be brought to justice.”
It is noted that Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein have also signed the appeal, although they are not members of the EU, they are members of the Schengen area.
The publication notes that the push comes amid a right-wing and anti-immigration shift in many EU countries.
The number of migrants crossing the central Mediterranean towards Europe from January to April this year is unprecedented, much higher than during the same period in 2022, Le Figaro newspaper reported Friday.
From January to April, according to EU border agency Frontex, the number of illegal arrivals to the European Union through the central Mediterranean increased by almost 300 percent compared to last year, reaching a figure of 42,200.
This is slightly more than half of all illegal entries into the EU in all directions recorded this year.
Particularly many migrants arrived in Europe via Tunisia. Compared to 2022, their number increased by 1,100%.
The migrants cross the sea in small boats that are made for them right on shore at a cost of about 1,000 euros. Gangs of smugglers are becoming more and more organized, and this partly explains the increasing influx of illegals into the EU, Frontex said.
A new application “TurBOT about IDPs” has started working in Ukraine: the chatbot is designed to help internally displaced persons integrate into the host communities, the Ministry of Reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory reports.
“For example, with the help of a chat-bot it will be possible to find housing in the new region, find out what documents are necessary to obtain IDP status, how and where to get help, addresses and phone numbers of the CPAU and the like. For convenience, all the information in the chat-bot is grouped by relevant sections,” reads the report of the Ministry of Information in Telegram-channel on Saturday.
Reportedly, so far the application has been developed for four cities: Kiev, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernovtsy. In the future it is planned to increase the number of settlements where it will work.
The project is realized by Crimean Tatar Resource Center within the framework of Social Activism Program “Join Us!” financed by the USAID and implemented by Pact in Ukraine.
To use the “TurBOT about IDPs” chatbot, you should use the link. (https://t.me/chat_bot_vpo_bot)
Ratio of number of Ukrainian migrants to population of recipient countries as of 31.12.2022, %
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Ratio of number of Ukrainian migrants to population of recipient countries as of 03.10.2022, %
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
