The social rights of immigrants in Spain

That Spain insufficiently protects the social rights of immigrants to its territory is clearly set out in this review of Spanish legal sources (the Spanish Constitution, international law, European community law, and internal immigration law). Judicial incapacity manifests itself in the face of the consolidation of a social model of development that has configured the foreign worker essentially as a piece of the productive machinery in the frame of a highly “competitive economy”.

The legal systems of receiving countries, in general, clearly choose a “labouralization” approach to migratory politics: only in exceptional cases are non-employed foreigners admitted to residence. In these countries the migratory option is subordinated to the needs of the labour market.