The Foessa report includes testimonies referring to “the existence in Ibiza of scams and organised networks that have emerged around residency registration“, involving fraudsters who sell registration certificates to migrants who have not yet regularised their legal status. “They promise to process the registration, charge between €400 and €1,000 as an advance, and then disappear, keeping the money for themselves“.
In some cases, property owners themselves “offer the registration service to their tenants for similar amounts, adding it as an extra charge”. Many people pay “out of ignorance”, while others do so “out of helplessness, as requesting a municipal inspection is not an option: because of their administrative situation and the lack of a formal contract, they fear reprisals”, such as fines, eviction by the landlord, or even deportation.