Almeria streets fill with migrant residency applicants sleeping rough to keep place in queues

Hundreds of undocumented migrants, including those from Latin American countries, African nations, and, as well, the UK, are being forced to sleep rough outside Almeria town hall as they go after legal residency under the recent government programme of allowing between 500,000 and 1.3 million undocumented immigrants to legally regularise their stay in Spain. They do so in the hope of legally being able to work, pay social security, and receive medical care, and for many after previously illegally staying in the country, as this is the only possible way of getting legal papers to stay.

Short application deadlines are adding extra pressure on this southern Spanish city location, and what appears to be a complete lack of foresight in preparing extra resources capable of processing so many extra applications. Reports have been coming in of large accumulations of people even resorting to sleeping rough so not to lose their places in the queues.

Tough conditions hit applicants hard

Applicants are queuing for extended periods in blistering heat with no access to food or water nearby. Toilets remain unavailable for the crowds outside council buildings in the Almeria province. Processing times are dragging on because extra reinforcements have not arrived in sufficient numbers to handle the high volume of cases at a local level.

People sleeping rough to avoid losing their places in the queues is giving rise to public safety risks. Vulnerable individuals face greater dangers when spending nights exposed without shelter or sufficient security measures in place.

Potentially, workers are taking days off cash-in-hand employment to stay in position for their applications. Parents, also, potentially are leaving children unattended while they wait to be officially attended. And without supplies of food or water, and with the intensity of the sun, a very real public health issue could be burgeoning.

Human rights questions surface over treatment

Legal questions are being risen concerning the human rights and safety of those waiting in such conditions. Observers see potential issues from long exposure without basic amenities like shade or sanitation. Calls are now increasing for rapid intervention to safeguard dignity and wellbeing during the application process.

Local resources stretched thin

Government preparations feature some online systems and centralised units for handling submissions, as well as handing responsibility over to local post offices for application processing. The Almeria council building continues to draw large numbers of in-person applicants despite those alternatives. Extra resources would shorten queues and improve conditions for everyone seeking residency approval in the coming weeks and months ahead.

The Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants Centre, CSIF Almeria, has denounced the collapse of the different offices dependent on the City Council of Almeria due to the lack of foresight in this extraordinary regularisation process for migrants.

According to the union, the staff of council workers are completely overwhelmed in the General Registration Services, as well as in the peripheral offices distributed in the different neighbourhoods of the capital and also in the Demographic Resources offices, among others, where hundreds of people are requesting the necessary documentation in person due to not having digital access to government online services. In addition, there is the volume of work it involves for the preparation of the regional electoral process which is coinciding with this.