OVER a third of residents in the Málaga-province town of Fuengirola are from abroad – the highest proportion of foreigners in any municipality on the Costa del Sol, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
Of the 82,800 people who live year-round or most of the year in Fuengirola, a total of 30,621, or 37.44%, are non-Spanish.
At least 142 different nationalities live together harmoniously, blending together and mixing with the local community.
The largest foreigner group is British, followed by residents from Finland, Morocco, Sweden and Italy.
“We're a cosmopolitan town, a modern municipality, pleasant and comfortable to live in,” says mayoress Ana Mula.
“And then there's our wonderful scenery, climate and extensive network of services.”
In recognition of Fuengirola's multi-cultural community, the town hall has a dedicated foreign residents' department and an English-language version of its website, a library with books in several languages, and in a 'non-Covid year', hosts an annual International Population Fair where everyone living in the town can discover more about the cuisine, arts and cultures of their neighbours.
“We aim to make it as easy as possible for all our residents to access our services and facilities, get to know the town, familiarise themselves with our public administration, and integrate into our daily lives as much as they can,” Sra Mula says.
Following the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1 this year, Fuengirola has seen a spike in applications to register on the padrón, or municipal headcount census – although it has also noticed a fall in 'padrón confirmations', whereby anyone from abroad has to 'renew their presence' at the town hall every two years.
“That's largely because, in the last year, it's been impossible for many foreign nationals to confirm they live here – perhaps because they had travelled to their home countries and could not get back as a result of the pandemic,” she says.
It is also just as likely to be due to restrictions in public office opening times, complete shutdowns of customer-facing services nationwide, and society in general not realising when these offices had once again opened their doors or preferring not to leave the house unless absolutely essential.
“For this reason, the INE has set up a system where EU citizens can do this via email – by contacting the town hall at estadistica@fuengirola.org,” explains Sra Mula.
Brits are no longer EU citizens, meaning they will still have to do so in person at the council offices.
“As always, we attend to all our residents as professionally as possible whenever they need to carry out any transactions, and for anything else they may need, because we're an open, cosmopolitan town and everyone is treated equally when they decide to live here, wherever they're from – after all, we're very aware that, as we've made every effort to turn Fuengirola into a place where people want to live, the least we can do when they decide to live here is welcome them with a smile and invite them to join in our everyday lives,” she concludes.
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