Barcelona, Feb 1: Thousands of Nepali migrants in Spain are expected to benefit after the Spanish government decided to grant legal status to undocumented migrants. But many Nepalis fear they may miss this window due to serious difficulties in obtaining passports from the Nepali embassy.
As the passport problem worsens, Nepali community leaders in Spain have drawn the attention of Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representatives of the Nepali community, officials of the Non-Resident Nepali Association Spain, social activists, and leaders of local organizations have demanded an expansion of passport services, an easier appointment system, and the operation of mobile service camps based on need.
They say the Embassy of Nepal in Madrid currently opens limited passport appointments only one day a week, forcing a large number of Nepalis to live without valid passports.
With Spain already indicating that the legalisation process will begin from April, community members worry that many Nepalis could be excluded from the legal process if they fail to secure passports on time.
Former NRN Spain president and social activist Ekraj Giri said the embassy’s current pace of work is nowhere near enough to meet community demand at this sensitive moment, when immigration doors have opened.
He said the pressure on the embassy far exceeds its limited capacity, and the problem cannot be resolved by the embassy alone within the required timeframe. He added that the number of Nepalis seeking passports is two to three times higher than what the embassy appears to have anticipated.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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