Spain Paperwork Chaos No More: Foreigners to Finally Escape Spanish Red Tape Crisis. But What About Spaniards?

“Gestores” to the rescue. Malaga’s new plan to end paperwork hell for expats in Spain’s red tape crisis.

Who hasn’t been caught in the terrifying grip of Spain’s paperwork, sitting across the table from a civil servant as they lecture you on the life-or-death importance of a form that was never requested in the first place? Or been asked to present a form in order to amend another form? Or the exhilarating feeling of jumping through hoops for months on end just to seemingly have the goalposts changed at the very end?

This, my friends, is the dark side of paperwork and red tape. When paperwork becomes a multi-million euro industry in and of itself, things get messy, residents get grumpy, and civil servants get giddy.

Dealing with paperwork is a daily struggle that leaves people pulling their hair out. It’s a well-known problem among Spaniards as well, but it’s so ingrained in Spanish life that they often don’t appreciate the dramatic gravity of the situation. Instead, they just ‘get on with it’ somehow, or they employ a gestor to do the heavy lifting. It’s almost like the stress just rolls off them. They can be seen happily enjoying life in parks, practising sports or enjoying an evening of tapas and wine. All this is done under the watchful eye of the notorious Paperclip Mafia.

What’s happening here?

Are foreigners missing something? 

From the moment you start to research what it is you have to do to sort the paperwork out in Spain, it becomes apparent that this is a system designed to create jobs.

From inexplicable communication barriers between departments solved by filling out more forms, to jobs that have the sole purpose of feeding back into the paperwork machine. Spain has been drunk on paperwork for decades now, and a group of brave “gestores” have stepped up to confront the monster.

Armed with paperclips and more connections than Saul Goodman at a prison tea party, they will attempt to end the bureaucratic nightmare that foreign nationals face daily. 

“Gestores” to the Rescue   

Malaga’s Colegio de Gestores, the official body for bookkeepers and admin workers, has just reached an agreement to partner with the Office of Foreign Affairs to make paperwork easier for foreigners. This new agreement will, in theory, streamline the paperwork system for foreigners, sparing some residents from the organised and relentless assault from the Paperclip Mafia. Under this initiative, foreign residents won’t have to wait months or deal with incorrect forms.

A Glimmer of Hope

Yesterday, possibly for the first time ever, a member of the public breathed easily as they walked into a government office to tackle some red tape. Surely, this is a step in the right direction?

For the first time, foreigners on the Costa del Sol feel there’s a real chance they can get their paperwork done without battling the bureaucracy monster.

But, wait. What about the real victims here? Although Spaniards joke about paperwork in Spain, they tend to accept it as an inevitable part of life. As such, it is rarely at the forefront of political rows and rarely gets the negative attention it truly deserves. As a result, they are once more being ignored. It seems like a small step in the right direction, but hardly the complete overhaul needed.

One reason for this is that the system is built on civil servants with “a job-for-life” contract. This is a way the state has used to provide jobs for decades, bumping up employment figures. Laying thousands of civil servants off when they are no longer needed would wreak havoc on the economy and create a nationwide backlash that no political party wants a part of. Thus, Spaniards continue to view the system as a necessary evil.

It’s a can of worms no one wants to open in the end.

Is this the beginning of a smoother process for foreign nationals in Spain?

Only time will tell.