Spanish Athletics Champion Faces Deportation Despite World Titles

On April 19, the young Moroccan will know his fate. Will he have a residence permit allowing him to stay in Spain with his wife and child or will he be deported to Morocco? To be allowed to stay in the country, Ismail must absolutely work a certain number of months per year to hope to have the precious permit.

This situation is now making it difficult for him to train, even though he has already won several titles in Spain, but also in other European countries.

"Here, running is not a job, nor the hours you devote to it, nor even the training. If they take away my residence permit, they will also have to do it for my 10-month-old son who was born here. I still have to stay here a year and a half to apply for nationality," said the Moroccan who now lives with his wife, also a high-level athlete who has a tourist visa.

Fortunately, by posting his story on his Facebook account, a courier company decided to give him a three-month contract.

"From the moment you file your application, you can only wait. If the company has any problem with the administration or has not paid the social security contributions, you will not get the residence permit," lamented the athlete in the columns of the website El Diario, regretting that many companies, as soon as "they realize that you are Moroccan, do not want to give you an interview, not out of racism, but because of the bad reputation they have created".

For Ismail, returning to Morocco is impossible today. "I’ll go crazy," he jokes. "He arrived in Spain when he was young, he has shared a lot of things with the people here and his mentality has completely changed," writes the newspaper.

"When I go to Morocco, I feel like I’m not at home," admits Ismail, who arrived in northern Spain with a friend and hopes to stay there for many more years. Inshallah!