Three individuals have been apprehended in Spain for their participation in a scheme aimed at acquiring fraudulent residence permits.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Spanish National Police arrest three individuals in Valencia for document forgery, including a couple and an immigration lawyer.
• The arrested individuals were suspected of falsifying payrolls to obtain a family residence permit.
• Spain experienced a significant increase in irregular migration, with 56,852 migrants illegally entering the country in 2023.

In a recent operation, the Spanish National Police agents have arrested three people in Valencia on suspicion of forging documents. Two men and one woman between the ages of 26 and 61 are arrested.

Their arrest came after an alleged scheme involving falsified payrolls to obtain a family residence permit in the community.

Among those arrested are a couple and an immigration lawyer. According to authorities, the trio collaborated to fix the residency status of one of their associates by submitting a falsified payroll. These documents were then passed on to an immigration attorney who was allegedly aware of their fraudulent nature.

As local media reports, despite this knowledge, the lawyer reportedly submitted the documents to the Government Sub-Delegation in Valencia to facilitate processing a residence permit for the alleged family member.

After extensive investigations in collaboration with the General Treasury of Social Security and the Sub-Delegation of the Government in Valencia, the authorities confirmed the falsification of the submitted salary lists.

As a result, the three people involved, including two with previous criminal records, were arrested for falsifying documents. After declarations and acknowledgement of legal obligations, the detained were released pending further legal proceedings.

23 Arrested in Immigration & Labor Exploitation Ring

Considering that Spain is one of the countries that constantly faces smuggling of immigrants and falsification of documents, during this month, the National Police also arrested 23 individuals, aged between 20 and 50 years, suspected of involvement in a scheme to exploit agricultural workers in Torre Pacheco, Murcia.

The people arrested were allegedly part of a network that exploited workers in irregular situations, using forged documents and stolen identities to avoid detection.

Those arrested came mainly from Ecuador, Senegal, Paraguay, Morocco, Gambia, Burkina Faso and Spain. Among them are four suspected organizers responsible for orchestrating the exploitation of irregular workers. These individuals allegedly misrepresented the workers as legal in Spain, circumventing official control and control measures.

Spain Recorded 82% Increase in Irregular Migration Last Year

The data released by Spain’s Interior Ministry shows that in 2023, Spain witnessed a significant surge in irregular migration, with a total of 56,852 migrants illegally entering the country by land or sea. This marked an 82 per cent increase compared to the previous year. The same source also revealed that this figure represented the highest influx since 2018 when 64,298 arrivals were recorded.

The Canary Islands emerged as the primary destination for irregular migrants, with 39,910 arrivals recorded last year. Notably, this influx surpassed the archipelago’s previous record set in 2006 when 31,678 individuals arrived.