• This reinforcement action contemplates the imminent incorporation of 250 troops on a cyclical basis and for at least 18 months at the national level. In San Sebastián 4 people will join and 5 in Bilbao
• For the structural response of the service, half a thousand new officers will be assigned to the offices of Foreigners in the Delegations and Subdelegations of the Government
• The Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi Spain, has indicated that, “in addition to personal resources, this unprecedented endowment includes organizational and technological reinforcements”

The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, in coordination with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, activates a comprehensive response to address the workload that the Immigration Offices will assume from May 20 as a result of the entry into force of the new Regulation on Foreigners.

The integral response is the result of the work that has been carried out from the ministry led by Ángel Víctor Torres since the end of 2024 with the different actors involved.

The plan is concretized with a cyclical response that contemplates the imminent incorporation - for an initial period of up to 18 months, extendable - of 250 personnel in the 25 Immigration Offices in which a greater increase in applications is expected in the first months of validity of the innovations introduced by the Regulation.

In addition, for a structural strengthening of the service, it is planned that of the more than 1,100 new officials of the C1 and C2 groups that in the coming months will be incorporated into the Government Delegations and Subdelegations, around 500 will also be assigned to the Offices of Foreigners of all the provinces, thus facilitating their structural adaptation to the challenges that the new Regulation on Foreigners brings with it for the coming years. In the case of the Offices of the Basque Country, in San Sebastián 4 people and 5 in Bilbao will be incorporated.

In total, “there will be 750 personnel who will be part of an unprecedented endowment in the Government Delegations, and especially for its Immigration Offices, which are an essential service for the processing of applications for residence and work of foreign people in our country,” said the Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi Spain.

Only the 500 personnel to be included in its staff exceed the total allocated in 2024 for all the services of the Government Delegations (478), thus demonstrating the commitment of the Government and this ministry to the territory.

Organizational and technological measures

Along with the cyclical and structural reinforcement of the staff, the Ministry’s comprehensive response “also includes additional measures for which several working groups have been activated,” said Spain.

Among the organizational measures, the relocation of management stands out, facilitating that, from the 25 offices initially strengthened, it is also possible to process applications submitted in any of the 27 remaining offices if their workload so requires.

For its part, in terms of technology, the Ministry has worked with a double objective: on the one hand, to facilitate the electronic submission of applications to foreign persons on the Mercury platform, enabling new forms; and, on the other, to simplify and automate processes to shorten processing times. In short, placing people at the center of attention.