JILL BIDEN AND H.M. QUEEN LETIZIA VISIT THE RECEPTION, ATTENTION AND REFERRAL CENTRE (CREADE) IN POZUELO

On Tuesday, Queen Letizia and the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, visited the reception centre for Ukrainian refugees in Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid. The visit took place on the eve of the NATO summit in which the US President, Joe Biden, is participating. 

Escorted by the Spanish Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, they visited Madrid’s Reception, Assistance and Referral Centre (CREADE, for its Spanish acronym), the first of four such facilities set up since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine to assist and provide work and residence permits to those displaced by the war.

During the visit, the Queen of Spain and the First Lady of the United States spoke with several of the Ukrainian refugee families and met with representatives of the institutions and organisations that help these users.

Since the beginning of the war, 125,000 people have come to Spain

In addition, the latest available data on how the system is performing has been provided. Since the beginning of the invasion, 125,000 people from Ukraine have arrived in Spain and obtained documentation.

One out of every three are children, half of whom have already been enrolled in school. Three out of four adults are women; moreover, 60 per cent of adults have a university education and 48,000 of the migrants already have a Social Security number. 

The Reception, Assistance and Referral Centre in Pozuelo de Alarcón is in a former Social Security Training Centre and opened its doors on 11 March. Since then, more than 20,000 people have been welcomed in these facilities, including 17,000 who have received temporary residence and work permits.

In addition to the Pozuelo de Alarcón refugee centre, there are three other facilities in operation to help Ukrainians, in Alicante, Barcelona and Málaga. In total, the CREADE centres have assisted 4 out of every 5 people displaced by the war in Ukraine who have made it to Spain.