Spain’s Immigrants’ Integration Policy Strategy - National Approach Model

Abstract: This paper analyzes the Spain’s immigrants’ integration policy with the aim to reveal Spain’s national approach model using path dependence as a theory to search for the consistent and stable constraining or motivating ideas that dictate the direction of Spain’s immigrants’ integration policy. This paper finds out that the public philosophy of Spain is premised on historical ties, the interest is motivated by shared culture and the problem definition is framed based on the country of origin of the immigrants. However, these ideas make Spain’s immigrants’ policy to be restrictive or liberal to some group of immigrants depending on their country of origin. Immigrants from Third country nationals consisting of Latin- America, Andorra, the Philippines, Guinea Equatorial, Portugal and the Sephardic Jews who have had historical experience acquire Spanish Nationality faster than the other immigrants from third country nationals composed mainly of Morocco, Africa and Asia because of the way laws regulating immigrants acquisition of Spanish nationality is designed.