Consular sections of Morocco in Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities are experiencing an unprecedented surge in footfall, according to Moroccan outlet Hespress. On 15 April, more than 1,000 people passed through the Madrid consulate’s doors in just a few hours, seeking birth certificates, criminal-record extracts and power-of-attorney documents needed for Spain’s new regularisation process. Temporary tents have been erected outside several missions to manage queues. Moroccan diplomats say they have doubled staffing levels and introduced a token system, but waiting times still exceed five hours. The consulates have urged applicants to use online portals where possible, yet many migrants lack Spain-issued digital certificates or face language barriers. Community groups such as Asociación Atlas have stepped in to provide translation and notarisation support. The surge illustrates wider logistical ripple effects of Spain’s policy shift. Embassies of Colombia, Venezuela and Senegal report similar spikes, raising questions about document authenticity and capacity to process criminal-record verifications within Spain’s 90-day application window. Fraud-prevention experts caution employers to scrutinise foreign documents and consider supplementary background checks before formal hiring. Morocco’s foreign ministry is negotiating with Spain’s Interior Ministry to allow digital transmission of criminal-record data, potentially shortening timelines. If agreed, the protocol could serve as a model for other high-volume source countries and accelerate onboarding for companies waiting to regularise informal staff. In the meantime, global-mobility teams should brace for delays in file completeness and build extra lead time into workforce-planning calendars, particularly for the hospitality and agriculture sectors that hire large numbers of Moroccan nationals.
Source: Hespress
