Irregularities in municipal registration have become a growing concern for major cities, including Valencia. Local administrations are stepping up surveillance in response to an increase in fraudulent activities. Recently, the Valencia City Council referred new suspicions of irregular registrations, carried out without the knowledge of property owners, to the Prosecutor's Office.

This action follows just months after approximately twenty individuals were arrested for defrauding and reselling false rental contracts to register on the municipal roll. Registration, a fundamental requirement for accessing social rights and benefits, has become a vulnerable point exploited by some, fueling xenophobic narratives.

During the penultimate control session in the Corts Valencianes, the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, announced that his executive would strengthen control over irregular registrations through coordination with local councils. This statement was made in response to an intervention by Vox on migration, where the popular leader emphasized a joint strategy between administrations, acknowledging that city councils have been overwhelmed in their capacity to control the census, despite existing ex officio procedures to remove incorrect or unupdated registrations.

In 2025 alone, the Valencia City Council removed over 7,000 foreign individuals from the municipal register through three resolutions. These removals affected both EU and non-EU migrants, with and without residence permits, who had not renewed their procedures (non-EU citizens must renew every two years, Europeans every five) or for whom “improper” registrations had been detected.

Registrations classified as “improper” by the INE can result from ex officio removal proceedings (when registration is suspended for not residing at the declared address), duplicate registrations detected by the City Council itself, or material error corrections. A total of 2,236 removals occurred for these reasons, according to documentation accessed by elDiario.es. All these removals received a favorable report from the Registration Council.

The remaining removals were due to non-renewal, following guidelines from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and the General Directorate of Autonomous and Local Cooperation. The council issued several notices to citizens required to renew their procedures, as recommended by the INE. After the legal deadline, the City Council declares the expiration of the registration. Through this process, 2,462 non-EU citizens or those without residence permits, and 2,699 who, despite holding an EU residence card or long-term residence authorization, failed to confirm their residency, were removed.