This Friday, officials from the Department of Foreigners of Mijas town council and associations, together with the area of Social Services, held a meeting with the UK consul to monitor and coordinate the needs of British foreign residents, who in Mijas are around 8,000 people, mostly elderly people who are alone. "One of the needs we have is to provide a service to people who have not been able to learn the language, in many cases, cannot express themselves well and do not have family support", said the Councillor for Foreigners of Mijas Town Hall, Mario Bravo (PP).
- En 1985, Mijas fue el primer municipio en crear un Departamento de Extranjeros para poder atender al turista, que se convertía después en residente.
- MICAELA FERNÁNDEZ
In 1985, Mijas was the first municipality to create a Department for Foreigners in order to be able to attend to tourists, who then became residents. Around 8,000 English people are registered in the municipality and have social needs that must be attended to. "Nowadays, we complain a lot about bureaucracy but it is the only system that allows us to control what we do, to whom we dedicate our resources and how we give priority to those who need it most. What this type of meeting does is to unify criteria so that the care we give to foreigners is as good as the care we give to Spaniards", Bravo stressed.
The responsible areas coordinate in order to be able to provide them with the attention corresponding to the needs of foreign residents. The first of the meetings held by the consul was with the area of Social Services. "We found that there is a lack of documentation, some are not registered, they have different difficulties, especially when it comes to language", said the Councillor for Social Services of Mijas Town Hall, Melisa Ceballos (PP).
- Alrededor de unos 8.000 ingleses están empadronados en el municipio y tienen necesidades sociales que se deben atender.
- MICAELA FERNÁNDEZ
After this meeting, interviews continued with the associations of foreigners in the municipality that collaborate in this regard: the Lions Club of La Cala, Age Care, Age Concern, Soroptimist International, British Legion and Mijas Town Hall. "We are grateful that these groups collaborate with us so that we can reach those users who do not know how to process or how to do certain documentation", said Ceballos.
Renewing passports, or health cards, residence permits, changes of address where they usually receive their pension or tax obligations, all without knowing the language can be complicated without the help of the Town Hall or foreigners' associations.
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