El Gobierno aprueba un nuevo Reglamento de Extranjería para mejorar la integración de las personas migrantes a través de tres palancas: trabajo, formación y familia

The Council of Ministers approved today, on the proposal of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, a new Regulation on Foreigners that has as its main objectives to adapt the norm to the current migratory situation, meet the needs of our labor market and migrants, as well as face the demographic challenge of our country. On the other hand, the new text complies with European Union law through the transposition of pending directives and the application of Community regulations. “It is the most comprehensive and ambitious reform that has been carried out in 13 years, since its entry into force in 2011,” said Minister Elma Saiz.

“It represents a balance between the extension and protection of the rights of migrants and the legal rigour and attention to the needs of Spain. It provides legal certainty, simplifies procedures and protects rights, but also offers new possibilities to people who have decided to develop their life project in Spain, to them and their families,” he said.

In addition, this new text “will serve to combat mafias, fraud and the violation of rights.” “We have worked with associations that work with migrants, with employers and with unions, autonomous communities and local entities. This text is the product of a long process of listening.”

Main news: visas

The new text creates a specific title for visas, which clarifies the authorisation scheme, requirements and procedures in general. All the initial authorizations are going to be for one year and the renewals, for four.

In this way, situations of irregular occurrence are avoided, something that has also been wanted to avoid in the new norm by clarifying and simplifying the procedures for changing from one residence situation to another. For example, it will not be necessary to leave our country to obtain long-term residence after having had a temporary one.

“We must allow people to carry out their life project in Spain by facilitating changes in status, for example, if a student comes to train and then joins the job market, or if a reunited family member decides to obtain a work permit of their own,” explained Elma Saiz.

The visa for job search, which was previously an authorization of 3 months, has also been extended to one year. This visa allows the search for employment in certain occupations and territorial areas, so that the 12 months “will facilitate that people get a job appropriate to their professional profile and, at the same time, that companies find the professionals they need”.

Main news: five rooting figures

Specific mention should be made in this reform of the rooting figures. “We are the only country in the European Union that has a specific figure to regularize people day by day through rooting,” explained Elma Saiz, “with five modalities: social, socio-labor, family, socio-training and second chance, which is one of the most important novelties of this new Regulation.” This new modality is aimed at people who have had a residence permit in the last two years and would not have been renewed for various reasons.

“The objective is to strengthen and expand the access channels to regularization of migrants who are in Spain, so that they can lead a full life as citizens: have rights and have duties,” explained Saiz.

These figures are homogenized and the residence time in Spain is reduced from 3 to 2 years. Likewise, the requirements to be met are relaxed and it is enabled to work both on behalf of others and on its own from the first moment.

All these authorizations will be of one year except for the family, which will be of 5.

By the end of 2023, there were more than 210,000 people with authorization for rooting, 85,000 more than in 2022. Thanks to this, the affiliation among people with roots increased by 30.4% from 2022 to 2023. “Thanks to these figures, with the innovations we have incorporated, we estimate that approximately 300,000 people could be regularized each year in the next 3 years. It is a formula that is fully in line with the European Pact for Migration.”

Three levers of inclusion: work, training and family

Overall, “the Regulation opens doors that were previously closed by three keys: training, employment and the family. Three keys that lead us to inclusion, but being very demanding with legal requirements and exquisite with human rights,” said the minister.

Work

In this sense, most of the authorizations regulated in this regulation qualify to work from the first moment, without having to expressly request an initial authorization of work for someone else. This includes people who come to study, who will be able to work up to 30 hours a week. In this way, the inclusion of migrants and their integration into society is promoted.

As for seasonal activities, a specific residence and work authorization has been created that facilitates recruitment both individually and collectively. In addition, the protection of workers’ rights is improved, since they must have specific and written information (in a language they understand) about their working conditions, stay and other expenses. Their living conditions and the worker’s safety are also improved from the moment they leave their country until they register for Social Security here. To this is added an improvement in the possibility of change of employer in case of abuse or for other reasons that have impeded the development of the employment relationship (death of the employer, plague in the harvest etc. ).

On the other hand, the text promotes that entrepreneurs have more information available throughout the process, which is simpler and more flexible so that they can adapt to specific needs such as the determined duration or collective management of contracts. Extending residence permits (with the 1+4 formula) gives greater stability and more guarantees to companies.

Training

Another of the novelties for students is that they will be able to have an authorization of stay for studies that lasts the same time as their training, and they will be provided with a fast track to be able to link to a work authorization once their training is finished.

During their studies they will be allowed to work a maximum of 30 hours a week, and regardless of the training they are taking.

The requirements and obligations of the study centers have been strengthened, so we give students superior protection to the current one, “we make sure they get a decent and sufficient training and we prevent them from being victims of fraud,” said Minister Elma Saiz.

Family

With the common goal of inclusion, family reunification has been improved. A residence permit has been created for relatives of Spanish citizens, in which case the age of the children is extended to 26 years (before 21), and contemplates realities that until now were kept out, such as the possibility of including couples not formally registered that can attest to a similar affective relationship.

Most of the people who are going to benefit from this measure are people who have obtained Spanish nationality in recent years and can bring themselves to their family.

The concept of a family member regrouped to the children and parents of victims of trafficking, sexual or gender violence is also expanded.