Mario Dueñas, an expert in immigration procedures in Spain, clarified in an interview with CiberCuba that Cubans face challenges in applying for the mass regularization detailed today by the Spanish Government because, in addition to meeting the requirements of having no criminal record either in Cuba or Spain; staying in the country for at least five months, and having entered before December 31, they need to legalize all documentation in the Island, which is a slow process that, as of today, his team commits to completing in no less than four months.
According to what has been explained, the legalization of documents at the Spanish Consulate takes an average of two and a half months, and this timeframe must be extended to include the delays of Cuban bureaucracy.
According to Dueñas, the problem is that to take advantage of the mass regularization of between 500,000 and 840,000 immigrants in Spain, there is only until June 30 to submit applications, and the blackouts in Cuba slow down bureaucratic processes, making it very difficult for Cubans to have all their documentation ready and legalized in less than six months.
Furthermore, the expert warns that the mass regularization process will congest the immigration offices in Spain, which means that individuals awaiting a residence permit for family reunification in Cuba are likely to experience delays in their process.
Mario Dueñas has also clarified that the mass regularization decree has not yet been published in the Official State Bulletin (boe.es) of Spain, but the first challenge that immigrants will face is proving that they reside in Spain within the limits set by the regularization process.
Ideally, a registration certificate should be presented, but it is expected that they will allow proof of residency through medical appointments, credit cards in one's name opened in Spain prior to the required date for regularization, mobile phone contracts, and, of course, the entry date to the country in the passport, which must be valid.
In any case, Mario Dueñas is cautious and encourages waiting for the Official State Bulletin to publish the decree that the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez has processed urgently to learn more details about the mass regularization that ensures a one-year residence permit for adults and a five-year permit for the minor children of immigrants who participate in the process.
The expert on the Grandchildren's Law clarifies that the process of submitting the application is useful for work purposes, but in practice, without an assigned foreigner number, it is very difficult for an employer to hire someone when they do not know if they will ultimately be granted residency permission.
Mario Dueñas will clarify more doubts about the mass regularization in the usual Thursday program on CiberCuba, at 4:15 PM (Spain time) and 10:15 AM (Cuba time).
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