Spain

This instrument channels the official recognition of professional skills achieved through work experience, and enables to carry out a work activity in the production system. Since it applies to migrants, it aims to facilitate the adequately use of new skills and experience from abroad in the country of origin.

Traditionally an emigration country, Spain has been transformed within the space of a few decades to become one of the most important immigration countries in Europe. Since the middle of the 1980s Spain’s foreign population has risen nineteen-fold to 4.52 million. Legislation has been modified many times in order to keep pace with this ever-changing situation. From the beginning, the focus has been on controlling the flow of immigrants and combating illegal migration, which represents a central problem for Spain.

In these agreements regulating labour migration flows, the Spanish authorities, through Spanish Embassies in origin countries, notify the origin countries’ authorities of the number and type of workers needed, taking into account existing job offers. (There is no set quota; rather, the employers in Spain request a certain number of needed workers.) Origin countries in turn notify the Spanish authorities, through the Spanish Embassies, of the possibility of meeting this demand with their nationals willing to go to Spain.

All migrants who register with local municipal authorities are entitled to health care assistance on the same terms as Spanish citizens under Spanish national legislation, including the Organic Law on the Rights and Freedoms of Aliens in Spain and their Social Integration. 

However, a number of immigrants are not registered because they are unaware of the process, they fear enforcement authorities' access to the database, or their municipal government rejects their registration.

The Spanish initiative seeks to enhance Remittances as an effective source of finance for development, by no means trying to substitute current flows of development aid. The Spanish initiative considers the involvement of the Public Administration, the financial sector, university circles and civil society.

By choosing to focus on Remittances Spain tries to make most of its experience as a Remittances receiving country during the 60s and 70s to help developing countries.

This project promotes the regular migration of Colombian workers to Spain and enhances the impact of migration on development, particularly in local communities.

The Multilateral Social Security Agreement is an instrument for coordinating the Social Security legislation on pensions of the different Ibero-American countries. The Ibero-American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security is a pioneering experiment with the objective of guaranteeing the rights of Ibero-American migrant  workers and their families to a contributory old-age, disability or survivors’ pension within a common area, the Ibero-American Community, formed by 22 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union.

The main objective of Pagesos Solidaris is to participate in the human, economic and social development of rural communities and to give these communities support to develop organizational structures. To this end the Foundation aims to:

Spain’s Strategic Plan for Citizenship and Integration (2011-2014) main objective is to strengthen social cohesion in a new migratory context characterised by reduced flows of entering for immigrants. The intended purpose of the agreement is to strengthen both the instruments and integration policies such as public services and participation to ensure equal access of all citizens.

CAMPO started as a project in the area of migration that promoted regular mobility between Cape Verde and the European Union (EU): Strengthening the capacity of Cape Verde to manage labour and return migration within the Framework of the Mobility Partnership EU/CV. It provides free counseling services to Cape-Verdean citizens willing to migrate to the EU. It also provided reintegration information to EU retuning Cape Verdean migrants.