Latest Immigration News & Updates after the Lockdown in Spain

immigration news and updates in Spain

During the last few weeks,  many changes in the area Spanish immigration law have taken place.

The coronavirus crisis and the lockdown have generated important changes in the life of all the inhabitants of the country, and this undoubtedly affects foreigners as well.

That’s why the government has introduced several modifications that you should be aware of. Why? Becuase many of them imply huge advantages when obtaining your residence permit.

In this article we are going to summarize all those changes and outline the most relevant immigration news during the past month.

We’ll start this section with some bad news: no mass regularization process of foreigners without papers has been initiated, as many requested.

However, the last instruction published by the government implies a series of changes in the process of obtaining social arraigo that will undoubtedly benefit you.

Let’s see the most important ones.

You can now submit a new job contract if your employee can't hire you anymore

One of the main requirements when applying for social roots is to provide an employment contract.

Until today, that implied a very common problem. 

After submitting the application, (attaching the employment contract), it took a long time before a favorable decision was obtained from the immigration office. 

So long that many times the employer could no longer afford to hire the foreigner. 

What did that mean? Having to start the process from 0, with a now invalidated.

But with the new instruction, this has completely changed. 

Now, if your application for arraigo is successful and your employer cannot hire you at that time, it is possible to find and bring in a new employment contract and your file will still be kept.

You will have 45 working days to find a new job (enough time).

And, once the new contract has been submitted, your file will be given priority and will be resolved within a maximum of 10 days.

Do you have any doubts? Get in touch with our immigration lawyers and receive personalized legal advice and all your doubts solved:

Economic means from the hiring company

Another key point for achieving social roots is the ability of the company that is going to hire you to demonstrate its economic viability and enough means to hire you.

If these are not sufficient, the employment contract wont’ be valid. 

However, with the current crisis caused by the coronavirus, this has become complicated.

Many companies have been forced to close, and others are experiencing great economic difficulties. 

This makes it difficult to demonstrate solid economic solvency.

But the government has made it easy in that regard.

How? Everything that happened during the coronavirus crisis and afterwards won’t be taken into account.  

Just the prior economic situation will be analyzed.

However, once the file has been resolved as favorable, the employer still has one month to register you withing the social security system.

Reduction of the economic requirements necessary to renew your arraigo

This was something we already knew. 

It is possible to renew your residence due to exceptional circumstances without having an employment contract. 

But to do so, it was essential to have other economic resources that could support you in the country

We’re talking, for example, about being financially dependent on a family member.

The new difference comes from the exact monetary amount that you had to demonstrate in order to get an accepted renewal by following this path.

Until now, that was equivalent to the economic requirement of the family reunification procedure (150% of the IPREM).

But that amount has been lowered.

There is no exact figure: each case will be analyzed independently and will depend on the circumstances of the particular foreigner.

This undoubtedly makes the process much easier.

Appointments with the immigration office are over

We finally say goodbye to one of the most tedious steps in getting a residence permit. 

In the past, in order to present the documentation to apply for a residence permit, you had to get an appointment with the immigration office and submit all the paperwork yourself.

This is now over: you no longer need to get an appointment.

The only appointment you will have to make is the fingerprinting appointment once your application is approved, time to pick up your residence card. 

However, for initial applications or renewals, it will not be necessary.

This will certainly save you a lot of time.

We all know how the previous process looked liked: navigate online to see if there is availability for an appointment (usually there was not), once you find one, wait for 3 or 4 months until you can go to the office … A never-ending process

But the current situation looks much more promising. And this is thanks to the following point.

You can now submit all your immigration applications online

We had already seen in one of our last articles how the vast majority of immigration procedures could be carried out online.

Well, now that list of procedures has been drastically expanded. 

You can submit any application for a residence permit or renewal online. Whatever that procedure is.

Simply talk to our lawyers, let us prepare all the documentation for you, and we will send it as quickly as possible online through a professional register – without dropping by the foreigner’s office!

This has great advantages:

  • First of all, you’ll get a much quicker response and resolution.
  • The process becomes easier for you, as you only need to sign while a lawyer prepares everything.
  • You will gain security and a greater probability of success in your application, as you will have a professional at your side who will take into account all the necessary details.

Would you like to start your application? Contact us and let us help you out.

Visas and residence permit extensions have now started

One of the main novelties left by the end of the state of alarm in Spain was the automatic extension of all expired visas and residence permits

Since June the 21st (end date of the lockdown in the country), this extension has started.

Remember that for regular residence authorizations we are talking about 6 months and for tourist or student visas 3 months.

New residence permit for UK citizens after Brexit

The Brexit process undoubtedly generated many doubts. 

What would happen to UK citizens in Spain? Will they lose their residency? And what about their relatives who have the Community card? 

Well, all these doubts have now been cleared up. 

A new special residence permit has been created for British citizens

Those who already have their green card and live in Spain have until the 31st of December to modify to this card, the same as their relatives with the family member of an EU citizen visa. 

On the other hand, those who are still in the UK but want to start living in Spain, will also be able to do so with the same facilities as any other European, provided that they do so before the end of the year. 

New residency cards

Until now, we’ve lived with four different types of TIEs or residency cards.

But from, three of them have been unified into a single one.

The Spanish police office has started to issue a new format of cards.

We are talking about a unified model within the entire European Union for citizens of countries outside the EU.

A much safer card that aims to prevent counterfeiting, as well as unifying the cards within the eurozone member states.

It also contains a chip with biographical data and images from the foreigner, generating a much more modern and secure system.

You can still start your application procedure for any residency card by downloading its corresponding immigration form here.

Less economic means required for the family reunification visa

As you already know, in order to apply for the family reunification visa it is necessary to demonstrate that the resident in Spain has the economic resources to support the foreigner who will start living in the country soon.

More specifically, the general rule was a 150% of the IPREM for a family member, and an additional 50% for each additional relative brought to Spain.

But from now on, the minimum amount required has been reduced, both for the initial application and for the subsequent year in which you need to maintain those same economic means.

And that is true in the case of regrouping under-aged children.

Thus, it is now possible to regroup minor children by demonstrating income equivalent to the SMI (minimum interprofessional salary) in Spain, equivalent to 950 € per month.

Do you still have doubts? Our team of lawyers answers them all!

Get in touch with our lawyers and let us guide you step by step:

0/5 (0 Reviews)
immigration news and updates in Spain

One Reply to “Latest Immigration News & Updates after the Lockdown in Spain”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

¡Suscríbete a nuestra newsletter! | Subscribe to our newsletter!