Spain grants amnesty for illegals

THE Spanish government is to grant nearly 700,000 new work and residency permits for immigrants after completing the country’s biggest immigration reform.

The amnesty for illegal immigrants is expected to have a significant impact on the country’s social security system, increasing the number of registered workers by about 4 per cent.

“So far, we have 672,347 jobs emerging from the underground economy,” Labour Minister Jesus Caldera told reporters yesterday, the last day to apply for the amnesty in Spain.

Permits are being given to unregistered immigrants who can prove they have lived in Spain for at least six months and have a contract of work for the same amount of time.