The Municipality of Vic (in Catalonia) had unilaterally made the decision to stop registering undocumented migrants in the local civil registry (padrón). This registration is the condition to get the health card in Catalonia and in most of the Spanish regions. The government and other Spanish institutions have rapidly clarified that a measure as such is contrary to the Spanish Immigration Act and the general rules on registration of the population (empadronamiento). The municipality of Vic has explained that they did not really seek to stop registration but to increase the control on the necessary documents that undocumented migrants must submit in order to be registered and thus to obtain the health card (ID or passport and address). The Vic case has originated an extensive political debate throughout Spain about the local registration of undocumented migrants. In this context, the media has revealed that other municipalities are also developing "bad practices" as regards the local registration of this population.

Source: El País, De la Vega reprocha al alcalde de Vic que tome decisiones unilaterales y fuera de la ley, 12 January 2010.