Argentineans in Spain: immigrants, in spite of all

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the state of affairs concerning the population migrations between Argentina and Spain in the last quarter of the 20th century. We intend to shed light on a certain aspect of Latin American immigration that has not been very visible in the Spanish context. Despite the fact that the Argentineans are the third most numerous national group in the Spanish territory, neither public opinion nor researchers have so far paid much attention to them. We indicate the social evolution of the country of origin during the last decades with the purpose of identifying the principal «emigration movements». We identify various migratory waves that occurred during the end of the seventies, in the eighties, and at the beginning of the 21st century. The population composition according to gender and age groups and the patterns of geographical settlements show certain peculiarities of Argentinean immigration compared to the rest of non-communitarian immigrants. Their level of competence and academic achievement seems, at first hand, also to point to a peculiar situation. However, a rather high index of irregularity (of so-called immigrants «with no papers») and the modalities of occupational insertion of the newcomers indicate that we are dealing with economic migrants. This involves difficulties and problems comparable to those of immigrants coming from other countries. The difficulties in perceiving Argentinean nationals as «another group amongst other immigrants» lies in the perceptions of the autochthonous public opinion and in the lack of interest or attention granted by the responsible institutions of both countries in question