The immigration offices are not responding adequately, and this is having real consequences for those awaiting their permits. This is the complaint raised by the Extremadura Migrant Women’s Movement, which met this Tuesday with the government delegate, José Luis Quintana, to ask him to make the administration more accessible and to clarify once and for all the deadlines and requirements for the extraordinary regularization process.
The most urgent problem: some companies are asking their female employees to resign because they believe the 90-day deadline the Ministry had to respond has already passed. The group insists that the Ministry has already announced an extension of these deadlines due to the flood of applications, but that information is not reaching employers. And of course, the fear of hiring someone in an irregular situation leads to unfair decisions.
Furthermore, they are finding that they are not being registered with Sexpe as job seekers, or that their digital certificates are not even being activated, because the provisional document is not recognized as a valid permit. For Tania Irias, the movement’s coordinator, this makes no sense: the Ministry itself has stated that the document must be recognized as valid even if the decisions are delayed. “The volume of paperwork has been enormous—more than a million applicants—and that number was not anticipated,” she explains.
Irias points out that of that million, more than 300,000 are asylum seekers who were already in the country legally, so not all are new cases. Even so, the backlog is evident. The organization, which was founded in 2019 and is based in Mérida, supports migrant women throughout the entire process. Since the application period opened in April, they have helped more than a thousand people. And it is they who witness the confusion, fear, and misinformation circulating on a daily basis.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t trust what you’re told at work or at a bar. Insist that the Immigration Office provide you with any clarification regarding your application in writing. And if you’re being asked to terminate a contract due to an alleged failure to meet deadlines, remember that an official extension is available. If you need guidance, seek specialized advice or contact the support group in your area.
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