Spain Opens Doors to 16,000 Agricultural Workers from Morocco – Unfolds Hiring Plans

Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration updated the Migration program of Collective Management of Hiring at Origin (GECCO) through the Secretary of State for Migration. This will make over 16,000 residents from Morocco eligible to work in Spain’s agricultural campaigns.

A coordination meeting was held in Tangier (Morocco) over the Circular Migration Agreement, after which the new edition was announced. In the agreement, authorities of Spain and Morocco agreed on this new version with business organizations Asaja, Freshuelva, Upa, Andalusian Federation of Cooperatives, Association of Citrus Growers (APH) and Fresón de Palos. A report about this was issued by the same Ministry.

According to the statement, “The largest contingent of this campaign, 22/23, will be made up of 15,350 people who can be hired at origin and who will carry out agricultural work, mainly strawberry harvesting, in the province of Huelva. This figure represents an increase of 5,000 more people than initially expected, almost recovering the figures before the pandemic.”

The Ministry’s report shows that in the territories of Albacete and Segovia, a group of 1000 people will be carrying out the field tasks. The scheme will employ an estimated 16,350 people initially for the 2022/23 campaign.

At the European level, the GECCO program is believed to be one of the most successful ones. It has been working efficiently for 21 years.

The statement also states that the 2021/22 campaign’s balance and 2023 campaign’s design strategies have been worked out. These comprise the details of information systems for issuing residence and work authorizations to novelties and employees. Likewise, actions have been launched to respond to the common objective of safe, regular, and orderly circular migration. The emphasis is on improving the issuance of visas and proper organization of exit trips and entry conditions to Spanish territory.

To review the probability of another circular migration under the GECCO, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration is in talks with other nations.