The Supreme Court has ruled that unaccompanied foreign minors (known as ‘menas’) reaching the age of majority who ask to extend their stay can count on aid as their mean of subsistence in Spain.
In addition, those from accompaniment programs financed by administrations and administrations and NGOs can also count that as an income, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The High Court reviewed a case reported by Confidential Digital and overturned the decision of the Bilbao Court, which denied a residence permit to an 18-year-old Nigerian. According to the High Court, the denial was unjust after it didn’t consider the benefits he was receiving when assessing his income.
The young man’s defence confirms that the Nigerian national every month receives financial aid from the Provincial Council of Bizakia as a special aid for social inclusion and the support program, as well as funds from the Basque Government, in addition to being the holder of aid from the Cross Roja for food, transportation, as well as medical expenses and clothing, among others “which is enough for their subsistence.”
According to a report from Confidential Digital, both the administrative courts in Bilbao and the Superior Court of the Basque Country rejected the defence’s arguments. They dismissed the appeals, thus refusing the temporary residence authorization request.
The judge of the Chamber in Spain also recognized that it is common for these minors, upon reaching the age of majority and requesting renewal, to find themselves covered by a public aid system to cover their minimum needs and avoid their social exclusion, and also to facilitate their access to the labour market.
The obvious difficulties for these individuals to automatically and without interruption from the child protection system to the labour market, a transition that social reality proves to be really complicated, fully justify the inclusion of the public aid they may receive in the calculation of the necessary income to guarantee their subsistence and obtain the renewal of the residence authorization.
Increased Number of Unaccompanied Minors in Spain
Each year, Spain sees a large number of unaccompanied minors. Based on the figures provided by Statista, in 2022, there were a total of 11,417 children registered as unaccompanied foreign minors.
However, a report provided previously by Humanium revealed that a large number of these minors struggle to integrate into society before turning 18 years old. The same revealed that most of them reach the majority of their age without being able to get a job, thus leading to their isolation from society.
In January this year, Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that authorities in this country “acted illegally” when they sent hundreds of unaccompanied children back to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in May 2021.
