Abstract
Emigration has long characterised the history of modern and contemporary Spain: from the mid-1800s when Spaniards left the country for Latin America, to the early 2000s, when economic twists and turns brought about new outflows, calling into question Spain’s “reputation” as an immigration country. Spain has a variegated and detailed policy framework addressing emigration and diaspora. Over time, the Spanish policymaker has remained faithful to a traditional approach which is built on the idea of Hispanidad (“Spanishness”), and privileges diaspora interests over those of mobile citizens. This chapter explores these developments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Where not explicitly stated, the text generally refers to this specific group of emigrants. That said, it should be borne in mind that such a group is part of a broader set of Spanish emigrants which also includes: foreigners with double citizenship, foreigners who returned to their country after having acquired Spanish citizenship, and foreign descendants of Spanish nationals who acquired Spanish citizenship under the Law of the Historical Memory.
- 2.
The right to emigrate was banned in 1941 and then reinstated in 1946, once regime authorities acknowledged the impossibility of curbing migrant outflows (Kreienbrink 2009).
- 3.
Thus, citizens of Latin-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal are required to have a minimum of 2 years of residence to apply for naturalisation, compared to the general requirement of 10 years for the rest of foreigners.
- 4.
Bilateral agreements on dual citizenship were signed with Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal. Spanish legislation considers Latin American countries to be those in which Spanish or Portuguese are one of the official languages. The list of agreements signed by the Spanish government regarding dual citizenship is available at: http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/normativa/internacional/doble_nacionalidad/index.html
- 5.
Along with these entities, there are others teaching Spanish language and culture outside the national curriculum. For more information on their activities see http://www.mecd.gob.es/educacion-mecd/ba/actividad-internacional/oficinas-centros-exterior/centros-docentes.html
- 6.
These entities also offer Spanish courses where Spanish is not the official language of the host country.
- 7.
For an interesting historical excursus on the evolution of this media output see the book edited by Calvo Salgado and colleagues (Calvo Salgado et al. 2009b).
- 8.
The Latin American Multilateral Agreement on Social Security was signed in 2011 with Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In addition, bilateral agreements are in force with: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Japan, México, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uruguay, the US and Venezuela. The list of countries whose relations with Spain on Social Security are governed by international agreements is available at: http://www.empleo.gob.es/movilidadinternacional/es/menu_principal/aunclic/convenios/index.htm
- 9.
The most important normative provisions in this regard are contained in Royal Decree 996/1986, Royal Decree 1564/1998, Order TIN/3356/2001, Royal Decree 1203/2003, Order TAS/2865/2003, Order TAS/819/2004, Order 561/2006, Royal Decree 08/2008, Resolution 8/IV/2008, Resolution 25/II/2008, and Resolution 16/II/2012.
- 10.
The list of bilateral agreements on double taxation is available at: http://www.minhap.gob.es/es-ES/Normativa%20y%20doctrina/Normativa/CDI/Paginas/CDI_Alfa.aspx
- 11.
Each programme pursues a specific target-objective, namely: associations, centres, research, communication, and elderly and dependent people (Law 38/2003, Royal Decree 887/2006, Order ESS 1613/2012).
- 12.
Aplicación provisional del Acuerdo entre el Gobierno del Reino de España y el Gobierno de Australia relativo al programa de movilidad para jóvenes, hecho en Canberra el 3 de septiembre de 2014 (http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2014/09/19/pdfs/BOE-A-2014-9527.pdf); Acuerdo entre España y Canadá relativo a los programas de movilidad dejóvenes, hecho en Ottawa el 10 de marzo de 2009 (http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2010/02/02/pdfs/BOE-A-2010-1576.pdf); Acuerdo entre el Reino de España y Nueva Zelanda relativo al programa de vacaciones y actividades laborales esporádicas, hecho en Wellington el 23 de junio de 2009 (http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2010/05/04/pdfs/BOE-A-2010-7093.pdf)
- 13.
Further details at: http://prensa.empleo.gob.es/WebPrensa/noticias/ministro/detalle/1934.
- 14.
In Spain, the main institution responsible for employment issues is the Public Employment Service (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal), an autonomous entity ascribed to the Ministry of Employment and Social Security
- 15.
With the term “neo-Hispanic migration” (migración neohispánica), Domingo et al. (2014) refer to a migratory phenomenon which emerged in the first decade of the twenty-first century concerning three categories of emigrants: citizens born in Spain, naturalised citizens and foreign residents living in Spain.
- 16.
Res. 20/VIII/1986, Res. 21/IV/1997, Order TAS/2865/2003, Order TIN/3356/2011.
- 17.
On 1 January 2015, the broad group of Spanish emigrants was made up of 2,183,043 individuals. The subset of those born in Spain, on which this study focuses, amounted to 733,387.
- 18.
This is especially the case for people with plans to return from the very beginning of their migration.
- 19.
El País, “La acción exterior de las autonomías deberá seguir directrices del Gobierno”, 19 February 2013. At: http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/02/18/actualidad/1361211063_672270.html
- 20.
Of course, the two mentioned rationales are not mutually exclusive. Thus, in the cases of the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, nation-building considerations go along with weighing the quantitative relevance of their diaspora.
- 21.
This relies on the theoretical backdrop presented in the introductory chapter of this volume, along with invaluable insights offered by Mehta (2011).
- 22.
Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (http://www.oei.es/index.php). This entity was formally acknowledged by the European Commission in 2014.
- 23.
In this sense, the present chapter is in line with the findings provided by earlier contributions focused on the Spanish citizenship regime (see Martin-Perez and Moreno-Fuentes 2012; Rubio Marin et al. 2015). In this regard, the fact that the main normative reference of both emigration and diaspora policies are still found in the last citizenship reform, is itself emblematic.
References
Alvarez Rodríguez, A. (2006). Nacionalidad de los hijos de extranjeros nacidos en España. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales. http://extranjeros.empleo.gob.es/es/ObservatorioPermanenteInmigracion/Publicaciones/fichas/archivos/Nacionalidad_hijos_inmigrantes.pdf. Accessed 4 October 2015.
Arrighi, J. T., Bauböck, R., Collyer, M., Hutcheson, D., Moraru, M., Khadar, L., & Shaw, J. (2013). Franchise and electoral participation of third country citizens residing the European Union and of EU citizens residing in third countries, Report commissioned by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, European Parliament/Think Tank, PE 474.441, p. 144, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/474441/IPOL-AFCO_ET%282013%29474441_EN.pdf. Accessed 4 Oct 2015.
Calvo Salgado, L. M., Fernandez Vicente, M. J., & Sanz Diaz, C. (2009a). Las representaciones de la identidad estatal y de las identidades subestatales en Carta de España. In Calvo Salgado et al. (Eds.), Historia del Instituto Español de Emigración La política migratoria exterior de España y el IEE del Franquismo a la Transición (pp. 253–276). Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, Subdirección General de Información Administrativa y Publicaciones.
Calvo Salgado, L. M., Fernandez Vicente, M. J., Kreienbrink, A., Sanz Díaz, C., & Sanz Lafuente, G. (Eds.). (2009b). Historia del Instituto Español de Emigración La política migratoria exterior de España y el IEE del Franquismo a la Transición. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, Subdirección General de Información Administrativa y Publicaciones.
Domingo, A., & Blanes, A. (2015). Inmigración y emigración en España: estado de la cuestión y perspectivas de futuro. In Arango et al. (Eds.), Anuario de la Inmigración en España 2014 (pp. 94–122). Barcelona: CIDOB.
Domingo, A., Sabater, A., & Ortega, E. (2014). ¿Migración neohispánica? El impacto de la crisis económica en la emigración española, EMPIRIA. Revista de Metodología de Ciencias Sociales, 29, 39–66.
Fernandez Vicente, M. J. (2009). La evolución del organigrama migratorio español: el papel del IEE. In Calvo Salgado et al. (Eds.), Historia del Instituto Español de Emigración la política migratoria exterior de España y el IEE del Franquismo a la Transición (pp. 35–62). Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, Subdirección General de Información Administrativa y Publicaciones.
Hampshire, J. (2013). An emigrant nation without an emigrant policy: The curious case of Britain. In Michael Collyer (Ed.), Emigrant nations. Policies and ideologies of emigrant engagement (pp. 302–326). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Herrara Ceballos, M. J. (2014). Migración cualificada de trabajadores de españa al extranjero. In Arango et al. (Eds.), Anuario de la Inmigración en España 2013 (PP. 91–107).
INE. (2015). Cifras Población 1-julio-2015/Estadística Migraciones 1er semestre 2015 (1/15), Instituto Nacional de Estadística, http://www.ine.es/prensa/np948.pdf. Accessed 4 Oct 2015.
Kreienbrink, A. (2009). La política de emigración a través de la historia del IEE. In Calvo Salgado et al. (Eds.), Historia del Instituto Español de Emigración La política migratoria exterior de España y el IEE del Franquismo a la Transición (pp. 13–33). Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, Subdirección General de Información Administrativa y Publicaciones.
Martin-Perez, A., & Moreno-Fuentes, F. J. (2012). Migration and citizenship law in Spain: Path-dependency and policy change in a recent country of immigration. International Migration Review, 46(3), 625–655.
Mehta, J. (2011). The varied roles of ideas in politics: From “whether” to “how”. In D. Béland & R. H. Cox (Eds.), Ideas and politics in social science research (pp. 23–46). New York: Oxford University Press.
Minardi, A. (2011). El franquismo a la luz de sus metáforas. Cultura, Lenguaje Y Representación/Culture, Language and Representation, IX, 117–133.
Prieto-Rosas, V. (2009). Transformaciones recientes de la población española residente en el exterior, 1997–2007, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics http://www.ced.uab.es/publicacions/PapersPDF/Text352.pdf. Accessed 4 Oct 2015.
Ridao Martin, J. (2015). La acción exterior de las Comunidades Autónomas a revisión: el regreso a una concepción expansiva de las relaciones internacionales del Estado. Revista General de Derecho Constitucional, 20, Enero 2015, 1–30.
Rubio Marin, R., Sobrino, I., Martin-Perez, A., & Moreno-Fuentes, F. J. (2015). EUDO citizenship observatory. In Country report on citizenship law: Spain. Robert Schuman: Centre for Advanced Studies. http://eudo-citizenship.eu/country-profiles/?country=Spain. Accessed 4 Oct 2015.
Sanchez Alonso, B. (2010). El final del ciclo emigratorio español: Desideratum. Historia y Política, 23, 135–162.
Sanchez Alonso, B. (2011). La política migratoria en España. Un análisis de largo plazo. Revista Internacional de Sociología, Monografico 1, 243–268.
Unterreiner, A., & Weinar, A. (2014). The conceptual framework of the INTERACT Project (INTERACT Research Report 2014/01). Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pasetti, F. (2017). Living in the Past, Leaving in the Present. Emigration and Diaspora Policies in Spain. In: Weinar, A. (eds) Emigration and Diaspora Policies in the Age of Mobility. Global Migration Issues, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56342-8_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56342-8_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56341-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56342-8
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)