La Rioja Now Has 2,418 Foreign Contributors as a Result of the Regularization Process

In La Rioja, 2,418 people registered with Social Security thanks to the special regularization process. This is the local impact of a measure that, across Spain, has resulted in 421,306 foreign nationals enrolling in the system, according to figures from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration based on data from late September.

The timeline was tight, yes. The window opened on April 16 and closed on June 30. Then there were three months, until September 30, to complete the paperwork and receive a response: approval or denial. The government initially estimated that half a million people might be eligible. But reality far exceeded those expectations: applications totaled more than 1.17 million. In La Rioja, 6,448 applications were approved.

And how is this reflected in the numbers of insured individuals? In March, before the process began, La Rioja had 22,097 foreign nationals enrolled. In August—the most recent month for which detailed data is available—that number stood at 24,754. That’s an 11.2% increase in just 100 days. Compared to August of the previous year, the increase reaches 14%. Non-EU citizens have been the main drivers of this growth: their numbers rose from 14,230 to 16,771. Among EU citizens, however, there was a slight decrease, from 7,867 to 7,803.

Unemployment among the population born outside Spain remained virtually unchanged: 2,437 registered in March compared to 2,422 in August. By sector, agriculture doubled its number of foreign workers, from 649 to 1,284, although the grape harvest and other seasonal harvests played a major role. Construction rose from 2,403 to 2,661, and manufacturing remained nearly unchanged, at around 3,380. The sector with the highest concentration of employment is services: more than 13,600 people, compared to just over 12,200 four months earlier. Within this sector, hospitality leads the way (3,755 registered workers), followed by retail (2,401), support services (2,050), and health and social services (1,524).

There’s one detail you’ll want to know if your application is still pending or if you’ve already been approved. As soon as your application was accepted for processing, you were already able to work legally on a provisional basis, which explains why so many new registrations were quickly processed by Social Security. But the administrative work doesn’t end there. The La Rioja Immigration Office took on 204 cases, which its staff handled on a voluntary basis and still without pay. Donato Villoria, from UGT, warns of what’s to come: with the arrival of spring, he expects a flood of renewal applications for a nearly full staff that is currently short two temporary employees. If you have a renewal pending, don’t wait until the last minute.

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