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MIGRATION-SPAIN: Picking and Choosing the Favoured Few

Alicia Fraerman

MADRID, Sep 24 2007 (IPS) - In Spain, measures to both attract and deter immigrants are being stepped up, depending on their country of origin, and especially on their work experience and professional qualifications.

The incentives are aimed at professionals, with or without degrees, and workers with job contracts arranged in advance with Spanish firms.

In addition, men and women from other countries have been invited to enlist in the armed forces. The enlistment of foreign nationals in the last 12 months has increased by 35 percent, raising the proportion of foreigners in the army and navy from 4.69 percent to 6.16 percent over that period.

The recruitment of women was approved in early 1988, and their numbers have grown to the point where they now make up 17.86 percent of land and naval troops.

In 2002 enlistment was opened up to men and women from countries of Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Equatorial Guinea, with which Spain has close historic, cultural and linguistic ties. Now they represent over five percent of the armed forces.

Among the total of 4,648 foreign recruits of both sexes, 1,919 are from Ecuador, 1,872 from Colombia and 201 from Bolivia. Lower numbers of Peruvians, Venezuelans, Dominicans, Argentines and Equatorial Guineans have also joined up.

The rest of the countries of Latin America are barely represented in the armed forces. The only eligible country from which no immigrants have enlisted is Uruguay.

In another turn of events, the Defence Ministry announced last week that it will recruit foreign doctors and psychologists as officers, not just rank-and-file soldiers and sailors as has been the case up to now.

The reason for this is that Spanish doctors have shown in practice that they are not interested in serving in the armed forces. This year, not a single one applied for advertised vacancies, and 50 resigned their commissions to resume their professional careers in civilian life.

The European Union as a whole is also seeking qualified immigrants, whether civilian or military. Its executive body, the European Commission, formally presented a project for a new work and residence permit for highly-skilled immigrants on Sept. 23.

The permit, known as the “blue card” by analogy to the U.S. green card residence permit for legal immigrants, will have to be applied for in the country of origin, before travelling to Europe.

The text presented to delegates of the 27 EU member countries points out that half of the immigrants to Canada or the United States from the Middle East and Africa have university degrees, while only 15 percent of those who emigrated to the EU have higher education.

But at the same time that Europe is seeking to attract professionals and other highly skilled migrants, it is stiffening measures to prevent the entry of large numbers of unskilled workers.

Along these lines, for example, the Spanish government initiated a campaign on Sept. 20 to attempt to deter irregular immigration, aimed specifically at countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

With the slogan “Don’t risk your life for nothing; You are part of the future of Africa”, the campaign is expected to cost Spain one million euros (1.4 million dollars).

Consuelo Rumí, state secretary for immigration, told IPS that the goal is to convince Africans that “clandestine immigration only leads to risking their lives.”

The campaign has the support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and will include television spots showing that many of the dangerous voyages end in death. Stickers, hats and footballs with slogans against the deadly risks of irregular migration in flimsy boats will also be distributed, to begin with in Senegal, and eventually in other African countries.

In mid-September, a dozen boats crowded with undocumented immigrants landed in Spain. Five of them made landfall at the country’s northern Mediterranean coast, an unusual point of arrival.

According to police sources, this probably indicates that there was a mother ship which brought these people to within 30 or 40 kilometres of the coast, where they transferred to small boats to make the final part of the voyage.

One boat reached the coastal waters of the Andalusian province of Granada, with 41 Moroccans on board, including five children. It was intercepted by the maritime police three kilometres offshore, and all of its occupants were detained.

The growth in migration traffic across the Mediterranean Sea is largely due to increased patrolling off the coast of northwest Africa, the departure point for crossing over to the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain.

Spanish state secretary for security Antonio Camacho reported that actions by FRONTEX, the EU border management agency, had contributed to reducing irregular immigration to the Canary Islands by 75 percent, according to Ilkka Laitinen, its Finnish director. Irregular immigrants continue to face a high risk of expulsion once they arrive in Europe, as well as exploitation by employers.

Babar Senekalde from Senegal made his views known to IPS on the issue of “illegality” on Sept. 20. He said he considers himself legal “because I have never committed a crime,” and documented “because I have documents that establish my identity.”

Lacking a visa or a work permit does not make him illegal, he said, “because everything will come in time.”

Another irregular immigrant, Simon Boboc from Romania, pointed out that migrants pay for their irregular status by receiving only 50 percent of the wages Spanish workers and “regular” immigrants get for agricultural work. The other 50 percent goes to the mafias that act as middlemen both for bringing them to the country and finding them jobs on farms.