CEA warns immigration quotas fall short of business needs and calls for project-based permits
Iago Andreu says the government and much of the opposition accept the difficulties caused by restricting immigration
The director of the Andorran Business Confederation (CEA), Iago Andreu, believes the immigration quota system does not fully meet staffing needs across many sectors of the economy, particularly hospitality and construction.
Speaking to La Veu Lliure, he says these difficulties coexist with an explicit political commitment to limiting population growth.
“The stated intention of the government and much of the opposition is to contain population growth and immigration. They are therefore aware that a restrictive quota policy is creating a problem, but they accept that”, Andreu says.
The business confederation’s director calls for the debate to be placed in this context to avoid misunderstandings between sectors. In particular, he denies that negotiations with the government seek a quota exclusively for construction, explaining that the proposal aims to address staffing needs linked to projects of a specific duration.
A project-based quota open to different sectors
“We are not negotiating a quota tailored to construction with the government, but a quota tailored to projects, which can be used by the construction sector and any other sector”, Andreu explains.
The distinction matters because staffing requirements on a construction site do not necessarily follow the tourism calendar. He says the construction sector would welcome an overseas recruitment scheme, but permit lengths would need to reflect the duration of projects, which he describes as exceeding nine months.
The CEA sees these arrangements as additional tools for businesses struggling to recruit workers. Andreu acknowledges that they would not solve every labour shortage, but argues for continuing to explore alternatives within the restrictive immigration framework.
Overseas recruitment and nine-month seasonal permits
Among the initiatives under development, the director highlights the pilot overseas recruitment scheme for hospitality. The aim, he explains, is to establish a sufficiently long seasonal quota period of nine months, allowing businesses to retain staff for much of the year.
Andreu believes this model could also extend to other tourism-related activities, such as retail. In construction, however, recruitment would need to follow individual project schedules rather than the winter and summer tourist seasons.
Andreu sees a limited migration impact from the EU agreement
Asked how the association agreement with the European Union would affect quotas, Andreu argues that it would have a “relatively small” impact on Andorra’s migration policy.
The CEA director says the agreement’s immigration provisions concern people from EU countries, while maintaining that the vast majority of immigration to Andorra, both permanent and seasonal, has come from outside the EU for years. On that basis, he questions what he describes as “alarmism” surrounding immigration and the agreement.
Regarding the proposed quotas, Andreu stresses that the agreement establishes minimum quotas for EU citizens and believes these could fall below business requirements. “They will most likely be insufficient to meet companies’ needs, because the quotas are very small”, he says.
The director therefore argues that these minimum levels should also be considered from the perspective of businesses seeking staff, as the CEA continues to call for greater scope to fill vacancies.
