Moroccan Teen Migrant Secures First Job in Spain, Highlighting Integration Success

The young man will work all summer in this club. He is one of the 9,000 minors who have come of age to whom the Andalusia Council has granted work permits. After a three-month internship period, Hamza Bouqaid obtained his first employment contract as maintenance staff. He will be responsible for cleaning the club’s pool, serving customers at the bar and performing all maintenance work on the premises.

Hamza arrived in Spain at the age of 15 on a boat carrying 35 other migrants. He stayed in several minor centers in the province of Cadiz until he reached the age of majority this year. "With the old immigration regulations, the majority of young people remained in an irregular administrative situation, without a work permit. But now the situation has become much easier. They can now have a residence and work permit," explains Daniel Rodríguez, head of the Senda program of the NGO CEAin, of which Hamza is a beneficiary.

Hamza lives with four other Moroccans in an apartment of the NGO CEAin. For now, he has one year to find a stable job and be able to rent a room. At the end of this period, he will have to leave the NGO’s apartment. Hamza took accelerated Spanish courses on his arrival in Algeciras and received basic vocational training in welding. All he wants is "to work to help his family in Morocco".