Migration of Moroccans and Ecuadorians towards Spain: how migration policies shape migratory patterns?

Belén Fernández Suárez, Universidade da Coruña

Morocco and Ecuador are two countries with a long migratory tradition towards Europe and the USA. However, the emergence of Spain as the European country with the highest percentage of immigrants has provoked a large-scale arrival of Moroccan and Ecuadorian migrants, making these two communities the largest ones among the foreign population from non-member countries. But Spanish migratory policy, attempting to fulfill the demands of the labour market, is characterized by promoting the arrival and settlement of Latin American migrants to the detriment of the African inflows. Regarding to this subject, a demographic comparative of the arrival and settlement processes of these two groups can be very helpful to check the effects of the aforementioned migratory policies, which are different according to the home country.