Spain to ease requirements for migrants to work in country

The Spanish inclusion, social security, and migration minister, José Luis Escrivá, announced a plan to ease the requirements for migrants to get a work permit in Spain following a pilot scheme in place since last summer.

Overseas workers who have spent more than two years in the country can apply for a training course, which from now on will not need to be of a minimum of 200 class hours and can be done remotely and even on weekends, as Spanish El País newspaper first reported and was later confirmed by Escrivá on Wednesday.

The plan, trialed since last July and readapted this year, "works well, with 22,000 requests to be part of the labor market after spending two years in Spain, and I believe this has been welcomed by all, and it is even becoming an international reference," Escrivá said to media outlets in the halls of Congress in Madrid.

However, "many people, especially women," had some difficulties with the "long training courses because of their situation, such as taking care of their children," he said. 

Workers who apply for this process will be able to work in the hotel, construction, and transportation industries, as well as other sectors with labor shortages.

According to El País, the new legislation was not welcomed by the labor ministry or unions. 

In Spain, there are 140,000 job opportunities in the industry, services, and construction sectors, according to the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE).