Spain Grants Legal Status to 16,000 Young Moroccan Immigrants in Policy Shift

Abdetawad Afilal, 24, is one of these young migrants. He left the city of Tangier in Morocco seven years ago to arrive in Spain, hidden in the engine room of a ferry. From a family of eight brothers and sisters who remained in Morocco, he slept on the street for six years in Madrid after escaping from a children’s center, and did odd jobs. With the reform on the rights of foreigners approved in October 2021, he quickly regularized his situation and obtained his residence and work permit. Today, he is a waiter in a prestigious restaurant in Madrid, reports El Pais.

Like Afilal, several Moroccan minors from Ceuta and Melilla who have come of age have been able to obtain their papers, thanks to the support of Michel Bustillo, delegate of the NGO Voluntarios Por Otro Mundo (Volunteers for Another World) who houses them. Mohamed Rafik, who arrived in Melilla in 2019 from Nador at the age of 17, eventually left the autonomous city to join Almería. Now 20 years old, he has obtained his papers and works as a mechanic, after "having a two-month trial period," he proudly confides.

Tarik El Fahssi, for his part, arrived in Spain eight years ago. Like Rafik, he is from Nador and turned 18 two months after the reform came into force. "It is now that he will renew his papers, and he will do so for two years with a work and residence contract," explains Bustillo. El Fahssi currently works as a waiter in a bar. With the money he earns, he plans to visit his parents, whom he has not seen for four years.

As for Mohammed Benamrane, he arrived in Spain to fulfill his dream: to become a mechanic. A week after the reform came into effect, the 23-year-old man had obtained a job in a garage. "I think I was the first in Valladolid," he recounts. In June 2022, eight months after the implementation of the reform, 12,083 minors had obtained their papers, compared to 8,023 in June 2021, according to social security data. The number of social security affiliates increased from 2,217 in June 2021 to 6,206 this summer. More than 2,000 of these minors are employed in the hotel and catering industry, and 776 in various companies.