FOREIGNERS LIVING IN SPAIN, IMMIGRANTS OR EXPATRIATES?

Almúñecar beach in Granada

I've always been interested in the topic of migration and migrants, it is because in my family four of my aunts and uncles were and in fact, there it must come my great love of travelling, I guess ...  and beside of that, I have also lived for a year and for a summer in England, an experience that marked me much, noticing, as a 17 years teenager, that life could be very different living outside your own country and at the same time, that could be very enriching and interesting, discovering other cultures and races and being aware that all of them could live in harmony.

Our country, in a few decades, has grown from being a transmitter to be a recipient of immigrants. In recent years Spain has become one of the most popular destinations for foreigners who thought moving outside their country. Nearly six million of the total Spanish population (currently about 46 million) are foreign, ie 12% of the total. For groups of countries the most numerous countries come from the European Union followed by South America. And by individual countries, those from which most migrants come to Spain are Moroccans, Ecuatorians, Romanians, Colombians, British, French and German.

According to the dictionary, an expatriate is one who lives outside of their homeland. But is there any difference with being an immigrant? I think that while some people associate it with poor immigrant who migrate out of necessity and rich expatriate who migrate to double his salary, having house, car and pool responsible for the company, both terms are really the same.

As for the regions most are attracted to live, it seems that Alicante is the town where most immigrants live over 65 years. In fact, between Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante are home to 45% of them.

Paella

Most of these immigrants or expatriates came looking for a job (not at the moment, obviously!), But within the immigrant community about 20% are retired, with the Swiss, Finns, Norwegians and Swedish the most numerous.

But what other reasons lead them to choose this and no other country to live? The weather, of course, is a very attractive factor, especially for those from colder regions. Another reason is that, thanks to our numerous heritage and crossroads of civilizations that have passed through our country throughout history (Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, Islamic, ……) and with a fairly diverse number of subcultures, including Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia, this is a society rich in culture, offering a safe and pleasant heaven for many looking to settle overseas. And to date, it has forty UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which is second overall in the world, according to Wikipedia.

Caixa-Forum Museum in Madrid

Well, this is a very interesting topic to talk about, but I wonder if there would be any foreigner living in Spain who would like to say anything of his/her experience living here?