L'Hospitalet is registering these last days long queues linked to the extraordinary process of regularization of migrated people, with visible concentrations in different points of the city and also in the surroundings of La Farga. The high demand is causing daily waits of hundreds of people and, in some cases, there are users who spend the night outside to try to get an appointment.
One of the points of in-person attention is located at number 8 of Creu Roja street, in the Collblanc neighborhood, where the Mujeres Pa"lante association provides support to process the vulnerability certificate. The entity assures that it is already attending to more than 1,300 people and that it receives users from all over Cataluña and even from other territories.
The entities strengthen attention given the increase in requests
The coordinator of the care service of Mujeres Pa"lante, María Jesús Herrera, explains that the entity accompanies people in several phases of the procedure. The support includes the issuance of the vulnerability certificate, the review of the documentation and the uploading of the files to the platform to request regularization.
"There are three lines in which as collaborating entities we can accompany the issuance of the vulnerability certificate, review the documentation and upload it to the platform to request regularization" - María Jesús Herrera, coordinator of the care service of Mujeres Pa"lante
The association points out that part of the people served cannot carry out the procedures in the municipality where they reside because they are not registered or do not have a fixed address. That situation is diverting cases towards L"Hospitalet from other points of the territory.
"People come from all over Catalonia and even from outside who cannot go neither to La Farga nor to the city council of the city where they live because they are not registered" - María Jesús Herrera, coordinator of the care service of Mujeres Pa"lante
From the entity they specify that the assigned appointments are respected, although priority is given to urgent situations, such as those of people with criminal record certificates about to expire.
Difficulties to prove the continuous stay
Another of the entities involved in the accompaniment is the Asociación Voces de Latinoamérica, which usually intervenes in crisis situations such as evictions, legal problems or medical emergencies and which is now advising hundreds of people in this process. One of the main obstacles, according to lawyer Carol Gutiérrez Mundaca, is to gather all the necessary documentation to prove continuous stay in the Spanish State.
"Normally, to prove stay in Spanish territory we provide the historical registration certificate. Now, however, we are recommending also presenting other evidence that strengthens the file, such as the transport card history or any other document that proves presence in the country" - Carol Gutiérrez Mundaca, lawyer for the Asociación Voces de Latinoamérica
In parallel, queues have also been seen at the T Mobilitat office of Granvia de L"Hospitalet to obtain the travel history. That document is one of the ways used to try to demonstrate an uninterrupted presence in the country during the last six months.
Gutiérrez Mundaca further emphasizes that not all people need the vulnerability report. In some cases, the alternatives involve a job offer conditioned on obtaining the residence card or the family situation, if there are minor children.
"The association is providing this advice to help people who cannot afford a lawyer to prepare all the documentation and guide it so that they present it without problems" - Carol Gutiérrez Mundaca, lawyer of the Asociación Voces de Latinoamérica
Increasing pressure a few weeks from the closing of the deadline
The pressure on the care points grows as the deadline approaches. The deadline to submit all documentation ends next June 30, which is accelerating the arrival of people to L"Hospitalet's support services.
Among those who wait, complaints are repeated due to the lack of response and due to the difficulties to access the procedure in dignified conditions.
"We are already here, we simply don't have papers and we are not receiving humanitarian treatment. We are people and we all need to achieve regularization to be able to work and contribute" - Elisabeth
The entities maintain an essential role to prevent part of the applicants from being left out of the process, especially in cases of people without registration, without a fixed address or without resources to afford legal advice, in a context of saturation that continues to leave images of long waits in L'Hospitalet.