5000 Indians legalized

Those Indians expatriates in Spain seeking extension to reside but could not extend their stay because they couldn't obtain

"legislation" may soon be legalized.

The Ministry of External Affairs and the Spanish Authorities have choked out a solution to a technical problem, which was proving to be a major obstacle in obtaining legality for some Indians in Spain.

The problem started earlier in the year when nearly 5000 Indians seeking an extension to stay in Spain, including the business community and professionals, were asked by the Spanish authorities to get their police verification done by the central authority in India. But these people failed to produce the required document and could only get the documents verified by their respective state police because in India police being a state subject. This issue lingered on for months and created hurdles for the Indians seeking legality.

The Ministry of External Affairs soon took up the matter with the Spanish Ambassador in Delhi and both sides reached a solution. Under the new arrangement agreed between the two sides, "Indian Embassy in Spain is now entitled to authenticate the document verified by the state police" which means that Indians living in Spain no more require the verification issued by central authorities.

The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement has thanked the Spanish authorities for cooperation and flexible approach and said, "It is our hope that this will enable those Indian nationals who wish to continue to reside in Spain to pursue their normal activities in a law abiding and productive manner, will now have the opportunity to do so."

However, sources maintain that authentication of police verification by the Indian Embassy is not the insurance to obtain legality but is one of the parameter and therefore not all the aspirants could get the legality.