Spain immigration amnesty draws 1.2mn applicants

{"text":[[{"start":7.65,"text":"Some 1.2mn unauthorised immigrants have applied for legal status in Spain under an amnesty programme promoted by the leftwing government, more than double its estimate."}],[{"start":18.15,"text":"The programme has become a symbol of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s status as the last leader of a big European country maintaining an open-door immigration policy, while other governments across the continent and in the US impose new controls at their borders."}],[{"start":33.75,"text":"The amnesty, which Sánchez has called “an act of justice and a necessity”, offers immigrants without legal status a one-year, renewable residence permit if they have lived in Spain for five months and have a clean criminal record."}],[{"start":46.75,"text":"It has boosted immigration’s potency as a political issue ahead of a general election that Sánchez, a Socialist who is being rocked by corruption scandals, must call by no later than August 2027."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":59.15,"text":"The prime minister faces an uphill struggle to stay in power while the rightwing populist Vox party, which is third in the polls but rising, seeks to capitalise on rising unease over large-scale immigration."}],[{"start":72.25,"text":"Although Africans arriving on small boats in the Canary Islands grab the headlines, the largest group of unauthorised immigrants in Spain is Latin Americans who entered the country legally at airports — where they do not require visas — then stayed beyond their permitted 90 days."}],[{"start":87.1,"text":"The 1.17mn applications for the amnesty are equal to just over 2 per cent of Spain’s 49.7mn population."}],[{"start":96.69999999999999,"text":"Pilar Cancela, Spain’s secretary of state for immigration, said the number of applicants exceeded the government’s projection of 500,000 because so many applied via a path for the “vulnerable” — an official designation for people with serious illnesses, victims of crime or those living in extreme deprivation."}],[{"start":115.89999999999999,"text":"The amnesty has divided opinion. According to a May poll by consulting company 40dB, 38 per cent of people in Spain view it favourably and 33 per cent view it negatively."}],[{"start":126.64999999999999,"text":"Spain has many more legal immigrants than those without papers. In less than a quarter of a century, the country’s total foreign-born population has increased from one in 20 residents to almost one in five, a higher proportion than even the US."}],[{"start":140.79999999999998,"text":"As Spain’s native population ages, Sánchez has consistently argued that immigration is vital to maintaining the country’s long-term economic health."}],[{"start":150.24999999999997,"text":"The migration ministry on Thursday stressed that the amnesty was allowing thousands of people already working in the shadow economy to formalise their status. It said that 159,097 of the amnesty applicants had now joined the Spanish social security system, which helps to pay state pensions, as of June 30."}],[{"start":170.94999999999996,"text":"Spain has carried out six previous immigrant amnesties in the past 40 years, including two under conservative governments."}],[{"start":178.39999999999995,"text":"Pablo Simón, a politics professor at Madrid’s Universidad Carlos III, said Sánchez was “the last social democrat still fully committed to pro-immigration policies at the European level, because everyone else has shifted towards tougher positions”."}],[{"start":193.69999999999996,"text":"It was no accident that his policies fire up Vox and its voters, Simón said. The premier, he argued, wants Vox to get stronger because its rise comes at the expense of the conservative People’s Party (PP), the main opposition."}],[{"start":206.74999999999997,"text":"“He knows he is placing an issue on the political agenda that is more advantageous for Vox,” Simón said. Meanwhile the PP, whose politicians hold contradictory views on immigration, “is left trapped in no man’s land”."}],[{"start":221.09999999999997,"text":"Today’s polls suggest Sánchez will lose the next election with the PP coming in first place, but the PP is likely to need Vox’s support to reach a governing majority. Sánchez is seeking to use Vox’s radicalism to stoke alarm among moderate voters about the prospect of the rightwing populists joining a coalition government."}],[{"start":243.44999999999996,"text":"The ministry said the largest group of amnesty applicants by nationality was Colombians, who made up 25.9 per cent of the total. They were followed by Moroccans, who accounted for 13.3 per cent, then Venezuelans making up 11.8 per cent and Peruvians on 8.8 per cent. It said it could not estimate what proportion of applications would be approved."}],[{"start":266.44999999999993,"text":"Data visualisation by Alan Smith"}],[{"start":277.1499999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783044157_6507.mp3"}