Moroccan Teen with Cerebral Palsy Granted Spanish Residency After 3-Year Struggle

Omar was 13 years old when he arrived on a boat with his mother Mbarka in Spain on the night of November 24, 2020, from Sidi Ifni in Morocco. The minor suffers from cerebral palsy and due to the lack of specialists and adequate technical facilities to treat him in the kingdom, he had to embark with his mother towards Spain. In nearly three years, the two have traveled through Tenerife, Bilbao and Lanzarote where they arrived in February 2022 before seeing their situation regularized. The Spanish state has just granted them each a one-year residence permit, reports El Diario.

Omar and Mbarka were able to obtain these documents thanks to the support of their compatriots and various specialized organizations. The Canarian human rights association and Doctors of the World have sent reports to the Secretary of State for Migration to warn of the risks faced by the young man and his mother if residence permits were not issued to them. Omar could have a high frequency of generalized seizures, which would lead to sudden death