'Graduates who come to the UK will do anything to pay the rent'

Hardship at home has made Spanish fastest-growing group of foreign workers in the UK

Lorena is an agricultural engineer from Galicia and Moisés is a graduate of international business from Asturias. Both now pack shelves, cut meat and serve customers in a grocery store in London after leaving Spain in search of work.

They are part of a wave of immigration that has made the Spanish the fastest-growing group of foreign workers in the UK as they flee high unemployment and the fear of economic collapse.

One in four Spaniards is unemployed and one in two young people. Staff at the Spanish embassy in London say that this year 70,000 Spaniards have registered with them, but believe there could be five times as many working, studying or looking for a job.

Lorena López, 28, has been in London for a year. "I lost my job and there was no work in Spain. So I came here. I'm an engineer, but I work in a shop. It's not usual, but I don't speak English very well. Now I have a lot of friends who were nurses, engineers, everything, who have also come."

Moisés Santos García, 31, arrived in London two days ago. Although a graduate of international business, he has only ever worked as a waiter. He explains that the competition for jobs is so great in Spain that employers demand skills and qualifications that would not normally be relevant to reduce the number of applicants.

Spanish immigration to the UK dates back to the reign of Henry VIII, whose first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was Spanish. More recently, many Galicians came to the UK after the second world war but Spain's economic boom, which began with the death of Franco in 1975 and accelerated when the country entered the EU in 1986, slowed migration.

At the north end of the Portobello Road in west London, just as it passes under the motorway, there is an area that could justifiably be called Little Spain. Supermarkets sell Spanish shampoo and soap and everything else you might find in a Spanish supermarket. There are cafes and restaurants where long-established Anglo-Spaniards and tourists are served paella and tapas by recently arrived waiting staff who have yet to master English. Farther north is the Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch, a school run by the Spanish ministry of education which is free for Spanish nationals. With 500 pupils and 50 teachers, it has a pupil-teacher ratio more like a private school.

Antonio Carrera, 60, came to London from Galicia in the 1960s to escape the poverty and oppression and owns restaurants, shops and a linen business in the Portobello area. "Every week I get 15 CVs and they are from engineers and other graduates. They are willing to do anything just to pay for their rent," he said.

Most of the staff he employs are Spanish and the economic situation in Spain presents him with business opportunities. "I am tempted to invest in new business. Three years ago it was impossible to get a Spanish chef or restaurant manager. I could not afford them, but now there is no shortage. But I am cautious because the economic situation in the UK is also not clear," he said.

The attraction of the UK is the existence of jobs and the possibility of learning English and a welcoming atmosphere, according to Carrera. "In 43 years living here, I have never been treated like a foreigner," he said.