Spain drops unemployment benefits for Algerian immigrants

Spanish authorities will not pay unemployment benefits to Algerian and Moroccan nationals who decided to come back home.

• According to Algerians who lived in Spain and came back to their home country, they had to show passport in benefits delivery process. If nationals left Spain during three months, they will not get those benefits estimated at 425 euros.
•  
• Algerian nationals touched by the new measure told Echorouk it is a discriminative step” as most of the nationals concerned by it come from Algeria and Morocco.
•  
• President of the European Federation of Algerians Associations Nourredine Belmedah said Spanish authorities asked a large number of unemployed nationals to hand over the money they had got as part of those benefits.  
•  
• He added that Spain said the new step is meant to reduce fraud cases and be sure that unemployed people are living on its land.
•  
• “The economic crisis in Spain forced many Algerians to come back home as unemployment benefits are not sufficient and they are not equal to the official minimum wage in the country,” he said.