"Imminent" Collapse at Alicante's Immigration Office Amidst Surge in Residency Applications

Immigration offices are "at their limit," according to their staff, who find it "impossible to respond in a timely and proper manner" to the requests of those visiting the offices. This situation is particularly challenging in the province of Alicante, which ranks third nationally in processing immigration files.

Employees of this state service, under the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, protested this Thursday to "highlight the current collapse of the immigration system" and to demand that "the necessary economic, material, and human resources be guaranteed to meet the growing demand." They argue that "without an efficient Immigration service, the entire society is affected," and thousands of people "could be prevented from working and residing legally in Spain, with severe impacts on their lives and the country's overall economy."

The province of Alicante is one of the epicentres of this diversity in daily life, with 21% of its population being foreign residents. It stands as one of the provinces with the highest concentration of international residents, alongside Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and the Canary Islands. In 2024, the foreign population exceeded 6.8 million people, representing nearly 14% of the country's total inhabitants.

"More resources and better working conditions are necessary to ensure efficient service," explain the unions Csif, CC OO, and UGT, who organised the protests. This is even more crucial given the upcoming implementation of the new Immigration Regulation on May 20th.

"Immigration offices are experiencing a resource and organisational crisis that threatens to worsen," say the workers' representatives: "An unsustainable situation has been reached," they assert. Therefore, they demand an "urgent" review of job positions, as 1,500 workers across Spain handle 1.2 million files.

Regarding their working conditions, they demand equal pay with other AGE organisations, such as Social Security, SEPE, or Traffic, "recognising the complexity and responsibility of the work performed." They also call for "improved conditions for internal mobility and standardisation of teleworking guidelines, which are currently unequal across provinces."