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Date Published: 31/08/2022

ARCHIVED - Hundreds of extra staff hired to clear foreign office backlog in Spain, including residency applications by UK citizens

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Last year, Spain issued 13% of all the residency permits granted to foreigners across the EU

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Hundreds of extra staff hired to clear foreign office backlog in Spain, including residency applications by UK citizens

As of January 1, 2022, there were 5.4 million foreigners living in Spain, representing 11.4% of the entire population, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). But between backlogs created when public offices were closed during the pandemic and more complicated paperwork following Brexit, the Spanish Foreign Office (Extranjería) is behind on more than 190,000 files and applications.

To speed up the process of registration, the government has hired an additional 295 civil servants to work in offices across the country, which will better equip the department to “face the challenges that these offices face as a result of the increase in applications for residence and work authorisation in recent years that was only interrupted during the hardest months of the pandemic,” according to a statement.

Last year, 866,790 foreigners applied for residency and work permits in Spain, the highest figure seen in almost a decade and an 11.6% increase on pre-pandemic levels in 2019. In total, 370,000 first-time non-EU applicants were granted residency, a 31% rise compared to 2020.

Catalonia will receive the most new employees, with 61, followed by Madrid (56), the Balearic Islands (19), the Valencian Community (38), Andalusia (49), the Canary Islands (23), Castilla-La Mancha (4), Aragon (7), the Basque Country (9), Galicia (2), the Region of Murcia (15), Navarra (3), Asturias (3) and the north African enclave of Ceuta (2).

In 2021, Spain issued 13% of all the foreign residency visas granted in the EU, exceeded in number only by Poland.

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