Refugee centre opens in Málaga as 134,000 Ukrainians reach Spain

SPAIN'S refugee council has announced that the fourth one-stop assistance centre for incomers from Ukraine is now open – this time in Málaga, at its conference and trade fair complex.

According to the organisation, CEAR, over 70,000 people from Ukraine have already been granted asylum in Spain or are in the process of getting it, having started the ball rolling.

If they have commenced asylum procedures, they will be granted it, since Spain considers that it is unsafe for anyone originally from Ukraine to return there and has promised unconditional residence rights and work permits to all of the eastern European country's citizens, even if they were already living on Spanish soil before the Russian invasion.

Over Easter, Princess Leonor – back from sixth-form college in Wales on her holidays – visited the Reception, Welcome and Distribution Centre (CREADE) in the up-market Madrid commuter town of Pozuelo de Alarcón, along with her sister Sofía and parents, to find out more about their work, and how they had helped 6,355 Ukrainian arrivals up to and including the end of March, within 20 days of opening.

CREADE centres were then launched in Alicante, on March 16, and in Barcelona on March 17, and by the end of that month had attended to 5,579 refugees between them.

As well as resettling, medical care, Spanish language and culture lessons, schooling for children, and counselling, the CREADE hubs transact residence and work permit applications for the Ukrainians, delivering both these to all who request them within 24 hours.

The CEAR has been put in charge of the Málaga centre, the first in the southern region of Andalucía, and explains how its members have been directing arrivals to the asylum system, the Social Security pop-up offices within the complex – so they can register as workers and for contributory State benefits as needed during their working lives, such as maternity or sick pay – and to the National Police headquarters temporarily based there, so they can file their residence applications.

CEAR, through the CREADE in Málaga, has opened 65 rooms for immediate arrivals, so they can sleep off their journey if they wish before going through the paperwork processes and being transferred to their eventual place of residence.

This may be with family or friends already in Spain if they have them, ask to be taken to them, and it is feasible, although if they have no connections in the country, accommodation will be arranged for them.

Carmen Rueda, head of the Málaga CREADE centre, says CEAR had already attended to 1,700 people from Ukraine, of whom 500 are in emergency accommodation – not just in Málaga city, but in other towns along the Costa del Sol – even before the new hub was opened.

Since its launch, the Málaga CREADE has seen to an average of 200 people a day, or about 2,046 by the end of Easter.

President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and several of his officials, accompanied by the Ukrainian ambassador for Spain, and local and regional authorities, visited the CREADE en bloc recently for a behind-the-scenes tour, and spoke to several refugees already based there.

According to CEAR figures, around 134,000 Ukrainian refugees have reached Spain, and minister for Social Security and migration, José Luis Escrivá, says the various public authorities are working against the clock to get them all settled as quickly as possible.

He says that, based upon the number of appointments already booked, Spain is expecting to break the 100,000 barrier with Ukrainian arrivals granted asylum and temporary residence 'within the next few weeks'.