Several officers from the local police station in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) detained 13 foreign citizens as suspects of a serious infringement of the Immigration Law. These foreigners pretended to be in partnerships with Spanish citizens to regularize their stay in Spain.
The purpose of the investigation (which was initiated when government officials became aware that it could be fraud) was to find out if the foreigners who contracted a marriage with a Spaniard did so to obtain legal working papers to be able to reside in Spain and benefit from the system. Not only does the foreign citizen benefit from the this legal partnership, but so do his family members as they may then obtain an EU family member residence permit.
Consequently, the results of the investigation proved that the foreign citizens had other families and that their civil union filed in the Civil Registry was indeed a fraud according to the press release given by the Government Delegation.
Translated by: Katherine Pascal