From the results of a recent report it is thought that 40% of foreigners who are registered as residents in any one of the 141 towns in Alicante province do not have a legal permit to live in Spain.This amounts to more than 185,200 people .There are 1,917,012 people registered in the province and 460,965 are foreigners.Most of them arrived in Spain illegally.

What many do not know is that they can register as residents in the town whetre they live regardless of whether they are there legally or not.If they do this they can access healthcare and education for free.If they manage to avoid deportation for three years and prove with a certificado de empadramiento that they have been there for that amount of time then they can request legal residence in Spain.