“I believe that each person should pursue what they want in life, a life of happiness, in where they believe it lies. It’s part of life.” These are the worlds of Gloria (let’s call her like this, cause she wants to hide her real name), a Colombian woman that has resided in Spain for ten years and has recently gained citizenship. After finishing her university degree in psychology, she decided to leave Colombia to continue studying in another part of the world. The main motive for the migration? “The truth is, for the adventure of it. I wanted to see the world.” With this motivation, she came to Madrid to do a Master in clinical psychology, saying farewell to Bogotá and to her family. Gloria reflects on her migration: “I might not be the typical example of a person that decides to leave her country because she doesn’t have opportunities. In reality, in that moment I was doing fine. What I wanted was to amplify my world a little bit. I felt that I was young and I was going to keep working there my whole life and that I was never going to move again…And here I am, ten years later.”
As a student in Madrid, she lived “in a cloud,” completely focused on her studies, but she soon discovered being a student and an immigrant in this country are distinct concepts. Upon searching for work she experienced the life of an immigrant, completely shocking her. Gloria immigrated to Spain in 2000 when there was a huge immigration boom, which was a shock for Spaniards since only a few years back they were the ones looking for work abroad. A tolerance that had existed faded away, replaced by new laws that radically modified the definition of what it is to be an immigrant in this country. The laws hardened, those without papers were pursued, and immigrants received no work. In that moment, while Gloria constantly looked for work and never received it, she experienced what it was to be an outsider in Spain for the first time.
During this period, she battled with the concept of immigrant, a complicated and even polemic topic for her. In a sociological sense, she says, “all who are foreigners that come and reside for a certain amount of time in a country that isn’t theirs by origin is an immigrant.” But the term “immigrant” has taken on a negative, primarily economic, connotation. “It’s as if those who are poor are immigrants. I’m not referring to the formal definition but the real one. People refer to immigrants as those that are in a situation, more or less, of precariousness, or are in need, or are in search of work.” Similarly, not all foreigners are considered immigrants. “A person that has sufficient economic resources, or is a professional sports player, is not considered to be an immigrant. That person would be referred to as a foreigner, or from such country.” Need is incredibly visual amongst immigrants of economic nature and motive, so people believe that the primary reason that all immigrants arrive is to find work. Gloria’s story is evidence of the varied nature of and distinct motives for migration in the current world.
In continuation, in 2001 there was a regularization of immigrants living or working in the country illegally. In this moment Gloria had a student visa but no work permit, but performed internships at the university and babysat on the side to make some extra money. Although she had never resided illegally, she decided to accept the regularization process in order to earn a work permit for when she graduated from the Master’s program so she could keep living and begin working in Spain. Because she had contacts in Seville that could give her a work offer, Gloria decided to present her documentation there. Practically simultaneously with finishing her studies, she came to Seville to work, having fulfilled all of the requirements to formalize both her residency and her work permit.
The most difficult part in the transition from being a student to being a resident worker was the standardization of her degree. Until that moment she had worked as a professional, had several internships in the field of psychology, and had studied alongside her Spanish peers. But studying in Spain is not the same as working in Spain, and in this moment she was no longer considered a psychologist. In other words, her work permit counted for all types of work except for the professional climate of her degree. In order to become a psychologist in this country, she had to go through the process of standardization, which was very bureaucratic and took about three years. She says: “In my personal situation, the moment in which I experienced the most difficulty as an immigrant was when I saw myself without a standardized degree and with a recently-earned work permit, but to work in anything but psychology.”
Finally, she managed to standardize her degree and has since worked in various fields, but never in clinical psychology. To do that, she would have had to be accepted to a very selective program – there are only 100 places a year – of another three years, which she cannot permit herself because she has to continue working. In regards to her difficulties finding work in the professional field, she says: “What you like to do is sometimes distinct from what the labor market offers you.” She has worked as a translator, a reporter, and even in immigration organizations, but “transience continues to be a reality” in her life. Currently she works as a labor counselor, helping unemployed individuals to define their employment objectives in order to receive work.
Another obstacle was that of creating a social network, since she had left her family in Colombia. In Madrid, it was very difficult because she was studying and there was never a space in which to engage with those outside her academic environment. As a result, most of her friends were other Latin Americans that also studied there. But in Seville she began expanding her social network. She had some friends from Seville, and “they began presenting me to other people from here and I started to extend my friendship circle.” She now has a boyfriend from Seville and many friends here, but her two best friends are still Latin American women, an Argentinean and another Colombian that have been a fundamental source of support throughout the years. The reasons are complicated, but Gloria says that it must have something to do with the fact that people from Seville do not have as much need for new friends because they already have established family and friendship ties. The other Latin American women are in a similar situation to Gloria’s because neither of them have family here. “You aren’t going to go visit your mother on Sunday, and your friend either.” So, they pass this time together.
Speaking of culture shocks, there have been many. “At the beginning my most significant culture shock was intellectual.” The environment in which she moved in Bogotá was very intellectual and when she moved to Spain, especially when she stopped studying, she did not immediately find an intellectual community with which to discuss issues that interested her. “I felt like an orphan in that sense, that I had nobody with which to exchange ideas…At the beginning it was very difficult for me to find people to share this with.”
Another shock was the expression of affection, which Gloria believes to be a cultural difference between Spain and Colombia. Although compared to other parts of Europe the Spaniards are very emotional, she insists that Colombians are much more expressive in this sense. For example, there was a situation in which “I gave a hug to a friend that was not accustomed to that and she stayed very rigid. You learn that you don’t express things in the same way as others. That is radical.” In addition, something that Gloria loves about Spain is that socializing is much more valued than in Colombia. In other words, everyone goes out for tapas and attends the spring festivals despite their economic situation. “Here people work to live, they don’t live to work. In Colombia it’s the opposite – you live to work. There are spaces in which to socialize, but you are working all day long. Here there is more balance in that sense, which I love.”
In regards to discrimination, Gloria has never been discriminated against in a serious way, but there have been moments in which she has felt separated from Spanish society. For example, the entire documentation process was horrible: “It has to do with how people talk to you and how they treat you.” However, she says, “being Latin American in Spain facilitates things for you. It is not the same to be Moroccan in Spain as it is to be Latin American…In my case, it was also favorable to be a woman. Maybe they have been less strict in some cases because I am female.” Another element that Gloria believes counts, although it is a difficult topic, is physiognomy. Immigrants with darker skin receive different treatment than those with lighter skin. “For example, when I am, let’s say, somewhere and someone says to me ‘you are foreign,’ ‘you are Colombian,’ ‘ah, but you don’t look Colombian.’ It’s happened to me thousands of times.” Gloria proposes that it has to do with the fact that many people have a vague notion of the world outside their own. Many Spaniards have an erroneous concept, neither good nor bad, that all Latin Americans have indigenous characteristics.
Despite the difficulties, there was a moment in which she decided to become naturalized as a Spanish citizen. Above all, this process of having to renew her residence every year was not worth the effort. Latin Americans have the advantage – due to the similar language and culture – that they have fewer requirements to become naturalized, namely, only three years of residency. “I sincerely consider myself a fortunate person. It’s not that they have given me anything for free – I have fought a great amount – but I don’t think it’s been too bad. I have passed through difficult situations but little by little they have gotten better.” Currently, she has no plans to return to Colombia. Because she has lived her entire adult life in Spain, her work, her partner, and her house are here in Seville, and returning to Colombia is no longer practical.
However, although she doesn’t plan to return to her motherland, she still continues to be Colombian. “I feel a little here, a little there. It’s like you are in both places…You can understand both things and move around in both sides.” These words apply to many immigrants, displaced by both their own choice and outside factors, which are living outside of their country of birth. Immigrants have a dual, and innovative, vision because they have the capacity to see the world from the point of view of two cultures, two languages, two ways of living, two ways of being. Gloria has chosen her own migration, but we must remember that there are millions of immigrants that do not have the privilege to choose theirs.
Raíces cruzadas 