Facilitating foreigners in the Marina Alta

The Marina Alta government is facilitating foreign residents by taking measures against digital corruption within administrative systems. 

Many expats in the region are challenged by the online administrative system, struggling with processing appointments due to digital hacking. With the online developments, new residents from abroad have been unable to obtain prior appointments online to access their NIE (Foreigner Identification Number). 

The NIE is key to purchasing or renting property, buying vehicles and accessing education and work for foreigners in Spain and with the growing increase in expat residents, the Marina Alta government is working out methods to battle the issue. 

CEDMA (The Cercle Empresarial of the Marina Alta) addressed the “concern about this problem, which affects both the social and economic integration of foreigners and their fundamental rights”. With Marina Alta´s dedication to diversity and international growth, assisting foreigners in their life in Spain has been essential for local governments.

The businessmen of the Marina Alta linked the online complications to “computer robots that monopolize all the available appointments and then resell them.” To find solutions, a meeting was held on April 16 amongst the CEDMA´s directors and the sub-delegate of the Government in Alicante, Juan Antonio Nieves, discussed the potential methods.

CEDMA asks the Administration to revise the online appointment application platform to prevent access by computer robots and to prohibit appointment requests at several offices at the same time in the name of the same applicant.

Moreover, the board asks for changes permitting only the modification of the date and time of an appointment, but not of the applicant and to record the applicant’s details until getting the appointment. The possibility of extending the opening hours for the public from 8.15am and reusing cancelled appointments was also suggested.

These requests, amongst others, have been officially forwarded to the Generalitat for consideration, in hopes of improving the lives of the foreigners within the community.