Territorial Accommodation of Non-Territorial Diversity? Comparing Substate Immigration Systems in Spain

Spain is often defined as a multinational state where several Autonomous Communities (ACs) are claimed to be the homeland of the alleged Basque, Catalan (or even Galician) minority nations. Furthermore, the increasing number of immigrants over the last decade adds more complexity to the existent territorially-based linguistic and cultural diversity, in the form of non-territorially concentrated ethnic groups. Competences over the immigrant population are shared between the central government and the Autonomous Communities: while the Spanish Government is responsible for the broader legal framework regarding immigrant admission requirements, the regional governments enjoy substantial decision-making on social inclusion and integration policy and, since 2009, on work permits, too. If this division of powers allows for the existence of different immigrant integration regimes within the country, the recent request by Catalan nationalist parties -ERC but especially Junts- for additional immigration powers to Catalonia are seen as part of their bid for independence and raise concerns about their implications for the whole state. Taking this into account, the proposed paper aims at developing a comparative analysis of the treatment of immigration-related cultural diversity in some of the ACs with higher percentages of immigrant populations, such as Catalonia, Madrid, or Valencia. It will examine the extent to which the strategies of accommodation of "non-territorial ethnic groups" are becoming increasingly territorialised at sub-state level. More broadly, the paper offers an opportunity to reflect on how the integration regimes developed by the selected ACs intertwine with the parallel (and sometimes conflicting) nation-building processes at central and regional level.