Spanish immigration offices threaten strike over migrant amnesty plan

MADRID: Immigration offices across Spain are threatening to strike next week in protest at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s mass amnesty programme for undocumented migrants, saying the country’s systems are unprepared to handle as many as half a million applications.

The 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 to head off political challenges by the far-right.

Online applications will open on Thursday after the government rubber-stamped the initiative at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. However, immigration officers warn the system remains unprepared for the challenge and have threatened a strike from April 21, a day after in-person appointments open, halting all immigration applications in protest at the lack of resources allocated to the process.

“The government is once again implementing a new regularisation without giving offices enough economic resources to handle it,” Cesar Perez, a union leader for Spains immigration officers, said.

In a bid to alleviate pressure on an already overburdened immigration system, only five of the country’s 54 immigration offices will be responsible for handling applications, with the rest distributed among social security offices, post offices and NGOs, according to Spanish union CCOO.

Spain’s 50 million-strong population has swelled in recent years to include around 10 million people living in Spain who were born abroad. Spanish think tank Funcas estimates that roughly 840,000 undocumented migrants in the workforce at present.

Spain’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.

Sanchez described the drive in a letter addressed to citizens published on Tuesday on X as not only an act of justice but also an economic necessity. “Spain is ageing… Without more people working and contributing to the economy, our prosperity slows and our public services suffer,” he wrote.