L'Hospitalet, a testing ground to end the business of reselling appointments to immigration offices

BarcelonaL'Hospitalet de Llobregat will be the site of the pilot test of a system that aims to eliminate the business of reselling appointments for immigration proceduresThis is a model that will automate the scheduling of appointments for the process, making it easier for users to obtain one. The system has already been successfully tested in Castellón and Girona, and the goal is to gradually expand and implement it throughout Spain. While the trial is underway, when a resident of Hospitalet's immigration application is approved, the notification will inform them that they will no longer need to schedule an appointment to obtain their Foreigner's Identity Card (TIE), as has been the practice until now. The difference from now on is that, a few days later, they will receive a text message or email assigning them a date and time to complete the procedure at the National Police station. They will also receive a reminder the day before the appointment. In fact, the first steps of this trial have already been taken. The first notifications informing users that they would receive an automated appointment were sent on Monday, January 12. A week later, on Monday the 19th, users received the first messages with their appointments. The first date they have been summoned for is next Monday, February 2.

The Spanish government's delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, presented the pilot program this Friday, stating that automating this process "is a simple yet powerful improvement that enhances and simplifies the lives of many people." In addition to user convenience, this change could be very useful in combating the resale of appointments, a long-standing concern for the administration and the police. Until now, systems had been in place that limited appointments by person, IP address, mobile phone number, and email address.

The goal is to initially resolve 30% of the 1,400 appointments scheduled each month in L'Hospitalet, with the aim of reaching a minimum of 50%. The Spanish police and government chose L'Hospitalet because it handles "an optimal volume of resolutions to test the new system." The pilot program includes about twenty of the nearly sixty procedures related to the immigration office, representing approximately 32% of the applications received monthly by the city's immigration office. Some procedures were excluded because they generate too many resolutions for the test or because they require the applicant to take additional steps, such as submitting a visa.

Collboni expects 24,000 regularizations in Barcelona

This Friday, the Spanish government's delegate in Catalonia also met with the mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni. Following the meeting, Collboni announced that a joint working group of the city council and the government delegation will begin operating on Monday to "facilitate the processing of regularization applications." The mayor of Barcelona also put figures on the potential impact of the agreement between the PSOE and Podemos parties to regularize half a million migrants on the Catalan capital. Collboni stated that at least 24,000 people in Barcelona could benefit from this agreement. This is the number of people that municipal services have identified and, therefore, those who will be able to access the extraordinary regularization process "most immediately." Collboni also emphasized that Barcelona has "experience" with previous regularization processes and that his intention is to proceed quickly and efficiently to reach as many people as possible.