SEPE official faces disciplinary action for seeing walk-in clients in Mérida

The SEPE was not pleased that an employee at its Mérida office, Juan Carlos Nieto, was seeing people without appointments. As a result, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against him, and he could lose his job and salary for up to six months for insubordination.

Juan Carlos himself explains that he only helped those who arrived without an appointment after he had finished with those who did have one. “My intention was to help people who had been trying to get an appointment for days or weeks,” he says. But SEPE management believes that this violates the rules.

The case has angered the residents of Mérida, who have taken to the streets to demand that the disciplinary proceedings be dropped. Dozens of people have gathered at the office’s doors. And many agree: getting an appointment for urgent matters—like a subsidy or a benefit—is a nightmare.

If you’re a foreigner dealing with SEPE paperwork, you know exactly what this is like. The appointment system is a real bottleneck: it can take weeks to get a slot, and when you finally do, sometimes everything is resolved in five minutes. Meanwhile, those without an appointment are left out in the cold, no matter how urgent their situation may be.

So what do you do if you can’t get an appointment? In some regions, there are emergency windows, but they don’t always work well. Another option: show up there and ask to be seen at the end of the line, like Juan Carlos used to do. But be careful: not all civil servants are willing to stick their necks out. And if they see you without an appointment, it all depends on the goodwill of the employee on duty.

The mess in Mérida makes it crystal clear that the appointment system isn’t just an issue for the Immigration Office. It also screws things up for SEPE, Social Security, and all government agencies. So until they reform the system, many citizens—including immigrants with urgent paperwork—will remain in limbo. You know the drill.

If you’re having trouble with your appointment or paperwork, message us on Telegram: https://t.me/cita_extranjeria