Immigration in Spain: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Part II)

Now for the bad news...

The Spanish government has announced plans to crack down on illegal immigration in Spain. The leading PSOE party, normally quite immigrant-friendly, has either finally come to the realization that immigration is a serious problem in Spain or has given in to pressure by the European Union. Either way, it's not particularly good news for those of us who have enjoyed the relative freedom of living illegally in Spain or for those who had plans to take the easy route to living in Europe.

So what is the government going to do? One measure is to increase the amount of time the police can detain illegals while arranging their deportation. The EU is in fact debating a universal measure right now, but Spain has taken steps of its own by increasing detainment to up to 40 days. That means the police have 40 days to arrange the deportation/repatriation of an illegal immigrant. If authorities are unable to arrange the deportation of an illegal before the maximum number of detainment days elapses, they are forced to let the sin papeles walk free. By increasing the number of days, they are hoping to be more effective at getting illegal immigrants out of the country.

But what does this really mean for, say, English teachers in Spain? Probably not a whole lot. North Americans and Australians do not really figure high on the list of priorities for Spanish police seeking out illegal immigrants. That being said, I do know English and Irish teachers who've been asked to show their IDs during random checks on the street, in the Retiro, etc. But for the most part, a U.S., Canadian, Australian, etc. in Spain can -- if asked for ID -- claim to be a tourist who has left their passport in the hotel/friend's apartment/etc.... and get away with it. A South American, African, or Asian may not have the same luck.

One worry we may all have to face, though, is whether a crackdown on illegals will put pressure on English academies to refuse non-legal applicants. When I was teaching English, it was never a problem to get work "under the table". An increase in government scrutiny on illegal workers, however, could cause some English language schools in Spain to cut down on the number of illegal teachers they have -- or eliminate them altogether. On the flip side, it could have the positive effect of forcing English academies to hire all teachers legally. The government has said that anyone who wants to work in Spain should get things sorted out before coming here. (Ummm... wasn't that always the case?) If the government has decided to make everyone stick to the rules from now on, it needs to be prepared to let industries that rely heavily on non-EU citizens (English teaching being one of them) to offer legal jobs with working papers to non-EUers. Will this actually happen? Only time will tell.

Another question is whether the up-to-now lenient passport control officers at the airports will start scrutinizing the passports of non-EU citizens. For the past year, I've managed to enter the country several times -- despite my passport having a huge, one-page stamp from the Spanish police ordering me to leave the country. Granted, the stamp is from May 2007, and I followed the orders and stayed out of the country for three months. But since then, I've been back and forth and not once have they asked me about the stamp. Even when the policeman at passport control took the time to read the stamp, he didn't ask me any questions as to why it was there or look through my passport to see where I had been since receiving the stamp! (By the way, the stamp was the result of a rejected prorroga request.)

It will be interesting to see whether the current laissez-faire attitude changes regarding illegal immigrants from North America, Australia, and other such countries. And I think you know what I mean by "other such countries": not South American, not African, and not Asian. My guess is that we've still got some breathing room, as the government continues to focus on the aforementioned groups. But a general decrease in tolerance towards sin papeles and increasing pressure from the EU to keep illegals out of Europe could eventually take its toll on all of us. I, for one, am being much more cautious than I ever was before.