Examining Pathways Out of Illegality and Vice Versa in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona

Albert Sabater, Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED)
Andreu Domingo, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Xavier Franch, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

In 2004, a new approach on immigration legislation was implemented in Spain after recording the second highest absolute net migration in the world after the USA. The reform included: a regularisation programme in 2005 and means of expanding regular avenues for economic migration and the settlement of new migrants. In this paper we describe the existing immigration legal framework. We then provide an evaluative case study of the trajectories of new migrants with an illegal experience with information on their main sociodemographic characteristics. Finally, we map the results in the metropolitan region of Barcelona to give a picture of the spatial distribution of illegality locally. Methodologically, we apply a longitudinal framework to analyse the pathway from one state (non-nationals with illegal status) to another state (non-nationals with legal status) and vice versa. The paper uses administrative data with more than 2 million entries recorded between January 2004 and June 2009.