Now the UK is a third country as a result of Brexit, Britons wishing to work in Spain have found it increasingly difficult and the opposition Partido Popular, should it win the general election a week on Sunday, is proposing the introduction of a points entry system similar to that in force in Australia and the allegedly the United Kingdom.
The PP’s leader’s manifesto refers to strategies to attract international talent and ‘legal immigration’.
The implementation of a programme for ‘qualified legal immigration’ is striking.
According to the sixth measure of the PP’s programme, it would be based on a points system that would reward academic training, language skills and innovative capacity.
It would promote migration based on equal opportunities and merit, with the aim of ‘facilitating the admission’ of foreign talent with ‘high integration potential’ that could benefit the country.
In other words, the PP would implement a programme to facilitate the insertion of the best-prepared legal migrants which would be assessed through a points programme, with the aim of getting them to settle in Spain to contribute to economic growth and pay taxes.
The model is similar to that of the UK and Australia.
The aim of both is to attract skilled migrants on a temporary basis to meet the needs of the country’s labour market.
In these models, applicants are awarded points based on their language skills, their educational background, or if they work in sectors of interest to the country.
These governments issue work visas for those who meet the requirements and score certain points.
In its electoral programme, the PP has included the sectors in which it is interested, such as healthcare.
“We will speed up the validation of foreign qualifications and eliminate the nationality requirement for access to statutory personnel for reasons of general interest,” it states in it manifesto.