- The Association of Hotel and Catering Entrepreneurs of Gipuzkoa delivers the diplomas of its Eskolanbide project, aimed at facilitating the integration of immigrants in an irregular situation through the figure of rooting for training.
- The new reform of the Regulation of the Law on Foreigners (entered into force in August last year), facilitates that foreigners who are trained in sectors with a shortage of labour can regularize their situation in Spain
- Government delegate in the Basque Country, Denis Itxaso: “The reform has introduced improvements and drastic changes to simplify procedures, shorten deadlines and make the necessary requirements for obtaining a work permit more flexible”
- The Aliens Office of the Subdelegation of the Government of Gipuzkoa has incorporated social workers to guide and help immigrants in the procedures they must carry out to regularize their situation in our country
Improving the migration model and promoting the entry of immigrants into the labour market is the objective of the reform of the Regulations of the Organic Law on Foreigners, approved in August last year. And among its innovative measures is that of rooting through training, so that foreigners who are trained in sectors with a shortage of manpower have easier to regularize their situation in Spain. Under this umbrella, the Hotel Management Association of Gipuzkoa developed last spring the Eskolanbide program, aimed at facilitating the integration of illegal immigrants into the workforce through training in two different actions: kitchen or restaurant/bar services. Yesterday he gave the first 27 diplomas to the students who have finished the course and who are now doing paid internships while waiting for the work permit to be processed and a work contract to be made. The government delegate, Denis Itxaso, in the Basque Country, participated in the award of these diplomas and took the opportunity to reinforce the idea that “the reform of the regulation has introduced improvements and drastic changes to simplify procedures, shorten deadlines and make the necessary requirements for obtaining a work permit more flexible. And it is especially new in the field of people in an irregular situation and who fulfil an effective training commitment to obtain a residence permit.”
Since the entry into force of the reform of the regulation in August last year, in Gipuzkoa a total of 3,460 applications for residency have been received for rooting, of which 696 have been for training, which is 20% of the total, and 399 for rooting of relatives of Spanish citizenship, about 12%. “Rooting through training”, said Itxaso, “is a new way to obtain a decent job, promoting social inclusion and offering the possibility of actively contributing to the development of their host community. It was absolutely necessary to design and implement innovative programs.” And in this sense, he highlighted “the initiative and leadership assumed by the Hotel Management Association of Gipuzkoa. Since the publication of the regulation, it has begun to give shape to a comprehensive project of training and labor integration in which it has had the collaboration of entities of the third sector, Lanbide and the training group CEI”.
Eskolanbide is part of an ambitious plan that Hostelería Gipuzkoa has been developing in the field of employment to respond to the tensions that the sector has been suffering in terms of the labor market. His proposal includes from the detection of candidates to their training through the personalized monitoring of their training and vital trajectory during the process and the resolution of administrative tasks so that they achieve roots for training.
Social workers to guide immigrants
According to Itxaso, “by improving confidence, self-esteem and decision-making capacity, this project helps participants make informed decisions, exercise their rights and contribute to individual and collective well-being. Training actions such as the present one benefit not only the emigrants, but also the host community and the economy of our territory. With them we have more cultural diversity and new perspectives. By investing in their training, we are investing in the future of our country and Gipuzkoa.”
In this regard, the delegate pointed out the commitment of the General Administration of the State itself to give “better attention to emigrants and promote their incorporation into the labor market” with the implementation of a pilot initiative developed in the Office of Foreigners of the Subdelegation of the Government of Gipuzkoa. “A new proposal that consists of the incorporation of social workers who guide and help emigrants in the procedures and processes they must carry out to regularize their situation in our country. Advice, with an eminently social approach, to improve the accompaniment to emigrants”.
“Implementing collaborative actions”, he added, “that contribute to the construction of a more just and supportive society, where all people, regardless of their origin, have equal opportunities, is a shared responsibility between public and private institutions.”