Good news for non-Europeans in Spain?

Spain held its general elections on Sunday, and the incumbent Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigo Zapatero (ZP) was reelected. This should be good news for Americans, Canadians, Australians, and other non-EU-passport-holding English teachers. ZP's party, the PSOE, is generally more immigrant-friendly than the opposing PP party. ZP in particular has been very good for non-Spaniards, legalizing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants after his first election in 2004.

Immigration was a hot topic in this year's election, as many blame a rise in crime and delinquency on people coming from other countries. If you look at the facts, it's true, but the immigrants also make important contributions to Spain -- keeping up the birth rate and contributing to Social Security, to name just two. We also take a lot of the jobs that the locals don't want (just like in America, England, etc.)

If ZP and the PSOE maintain their welcoming policy for immigrants (both legal and illegal), it should be good for non-European English teachers who want to come teach English in Spain for a year or two. I've been told that during the previous administration (under the PP), there were occasional random checks of English academies in Madrid for sin papeles (illegals). Under the PSOE, there were none that I know of. One of my academy bosses even told me that during Aznar's administration, she wouldn't let her American teachers have any classes in the academy -- they were all sent out to teach at students' offices. When I was there, about half of my classes were in the academy, because the owner and director felt comfortable that nobody would check up on us.

I was also told by an immigration lawyer last year that the PP in the past was less likely to approve work visas for immigrants, whereas the PSOE was pushing them through at record speed (given all of the requirements are met, and the application is legitimate). She strongly encouraged me to put my visa application through ASAP before the elections, in case the PP won and they were back to a slowdown on visa approvals.

But, lucky for all you non-EUers out there, ZP and the PSOE prevailed. I'm not saying things will continue to be (relatively) easy for immigrants -- it remains to be seen if in his second term, ZP caves in to rising pressure to control immigration -- but at the moment, at least, we still have hope.