Report: Quarter Million Moroccan Immigrants in Spain Lack Legal Status

These Moroccans, for the most part, have become illegal in Spain after the expiration of their residence permits. At the height of the 2008 crisis, many Moroccans were unable to renew their papers following the loss of their jobs. Others, on the contrary, arrived illegally in the country, after crossing the Mediterranean.

According to the EFE agency, there are currently 180,000 Moroccan or Moroccan-origin children enrolled in Spanish schools and since the year 2000, 200,000 Moroccans have taken the step of applying for naturalization, after sometimes a few refusals.

Despite this large number of Moroccans in the country, they are poorly represented in public life, unlike other European countries like France or Belgium, where it is not uncommon to find parliamentarians, ministers or mayors of Moroccan origin. For EFE, the recent immigration of Moroccans to Spain partly explains this difference.