Four decades of a truly unique success story

The first of its kind in Spain, the foreigners department of Mijas town hall has been assisting local expats with important matters for almost four decades. The service began with a newspaper advertisement in SUR in 1985, which announced that Mijas council was looking for a translator. At the time, the town hall had decided it wanted, or more to the point, realised it needed to do more for its foreign residents, whose numbers were constantly increasing.

At the time, Anette Skou, originally from Denmark, but resident on the Costa del Sol since 1972, was selected to start something which nobody at that time expected to become what it is today: a truly unique success story.

Anette, who retired in 2020, first joined Mijas town hall in 1984 as an interpreter, and after launching the foreign residents office, she organised the first Mijas International Day in 1987, as well as organising numerous informative talks in different languages, culinary events, fairs and music festivals. These activities were introduced as a way of recognising the culture of foreign residents and helping people to forge closer links with Spanish residents.

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There was nothing else like it, so the mayor at that time, Antonio Maldonado, wanted to make sure that Mijas was a pioneer in satisfying the changing requirements of its residents. One of the biggest problems with many foreign residents was the language barrier, so the department introduced services like the translation of important documents and registration forms.

However, from the outset, the demand was so great, it soon became apparent that the service would need considerable expansion.

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In 1987, an office opened in La Cala, run by Annette Liltorp, who attended to foreigners for 14 years, until the office closed. Between 1989 and 1996 there was a third office in Calahonda, run by Louisa Machen. When that office closed, Louisa moved to the main department in Mijas Pueblo, where Katja Thirion started work in 2002: she is still at the helm of the office today.

In 2013, in order to be closer to the majority of the municipality’s foreign residents, the office was relocated to La Cala de Mijas. The fact that there used to be three offices and now there is only one is no reason to think the workload has decreased. Quite the contrary, in fact, because the foreigners department is always introducing new projects and services.

Today, on the eve of its 40th anniversary, and under the guidance of Mayor Ana Mata, more than 22,000 people a year use this service, which is highly appreciated by foreigners as it is free, confidential and totally altruistic.

During the many years it has been running it has adapted and enlarged its services to the needs of the foreign population; residents, residential tourism and tourists. However, in 2003, the tourism office was established as a separate department.

Mijas now has approximately 90,000 registered residents, almost 40 per cent of whom are foreigners of 125 different nationalities. The vast majority are British, Scandinavian and German, which is why the staff at the department can attend the public in these languages, along with French and, of course, Spanish.

The foreigners department organises language exchange workshops in the three pensioners centres in the municipality from 10am until 11.30am. These take place in Mijas Pueblo on Tuesday, La Cala de Mijas on Wednesday and Las Lagunas on Friday. Those wishing to learn to speak the language can sit down and practise speaking with local Spanish residents. The workshops consist of English-speaking foreigners and local Spanish residents who converse for 40 minutes in Spanish and 40 minutes in English. The workshops, which are free, are run by a bilingual coordinator.

The foreigners department also fully understands how the bureaucratic systems work in Spain and also in other countries, which in many cases is fundamental to be able to resolve the problems that foreigners have.

The office works as a link with the rest of the municipal services, as well as with the public administration in general and other institutions and groups.

Apart from consultations, it organises informative conferences and all kinds of activities in English, international events, integration projects, as well as introducing a work group against gender violence. Other services include help registering on the municipal census, social security and tax, residence permits, the Spanish health care system, traffic matters, digital certificates, residents’ right to vote, and civil weddings, among other things,

The office also collaborates with the Consular Corps in Malaga, social groups, foreign media and national and international universities. It also helps with building permits, complaints and fines and land registry requests. It even helps with social concerns, assisting in an advisory capacity in cases when elderly people need nursing care.

The questions that clients ask have hardly changed in the last four decades, although the office is now able to benefit from the new technologies to help the team to assist their clients more efficiently.

Along with the office in La Cala de Mijas (which is open between 9am and 2pm Monday to Friday), the foreigners department also offers a website in four languages (English, Spanish, French and German), where information about bank holidays and public transport, street maps and tourist information, correct waste disposal and recycling points, volunteer projects and the language exchange can be accessed.

Mijas foreigners department, now run by Katja Thirion (who has been at the department for more than 20 years) and Laura Córdoba García, has long been a pioneer in making life for those who do not speak Spanish (and those wishing to learn) simple, enjoyable and interesting. It is still considered one of the most extensive foreigners departments in the province, and is continuing to expand its services to attend to the needs of the constantly rising expat population of the municipality.

It was for this reason that SUR in English gave recognition to the Mijas foreigners department with an award during the newspaper’s 40 anniversary gala held at the Hotel Don Pepe Gran Meliá in Marbella on Monday 7 October. The recognition was given because the department has shared SUR in English’s aim to link the different communities on the Costa del Sol over the years.

Mario Bravo, councillor at Mijas town hall, presented Anette Skou with the recognition, who said she has been “very privileged to have worked at Mijas town hall.” She also revealed that she had “seen an advertisement in SUR” and decided to apply for the position. Speaking six languages stood her in good stead for the job and she said that at similar ages, the foreigners department and SUR in English have “grown up together” and worked “hand in hand”.

Skou said that her years at the department had been “a fantastic experience”, adding that she had “learned a lot” working with the “thousands of foreigners” she had assisted over the years.

“I was very excited when I was accepted for the job, but I soon found out that it was not only a matter of translating. There was a lack of information about how the town hall functioned, which was something I realised was very difficult for those who did not know. Once we began, we started receiving inquiries from foreigners from all over, not just Mijas, and this is when I realised we would need to find more staff,” she said.

Katja Thirion, who accompanied Anette onto the awards stage, also talked about the work and reflected on how technology has changed their work from filling in forms to guiding people through the online processes.