The Other Immigrants: EU Citizens from Rich Countries

mmigration to Spain from the most developed EU countries has trebled in the last 12 years, and, unlike previously, the vast majority of Britons, French, Germans and citizens of other rich EU countries living in Spain are now working immigrants, rather than ‘resident tourists’. As well as along the coast and on the islands, these EU foreigners now live and work in many other locations in Spain and constitute a population whose educational and occupational level is higher than that of the native population and distinctly higher than that of the rest of immigrants. Their number is unknown because many of them do not register either locally or with the Interior Ministry since, unlike immigrants from outside the EU or the most recent EU members (Rumanians and Bulgarians), they do not have enough incentives to do so. Their presence in Spain is highly positive, but it does force the education system to bolster English teaching so as to prevent their skills at certain professional levels from hampering Spaniards.