Dominicana On Line - El Portal de la República Dominicana

In the middle of the 1980's, the phenomenon of Dominican migration to Spain began, characterized by an abundantly female population and a string link with domestic service. Barcelona and Madrid contained the largest settlements of Dominicans.
The largest influx of Dominicans to Spain was recorded between 1988 and 1993 - a pattern facilitated by the fact that Dominicans were not required to obtain a visa to enter Spanish territory during this time. While in 1990 Spanish immigration authorities reported a population of 2,374 Dominicans in Spain, by 1995 that figure had grown to 14,470. By 2002, official numbers had reached 32,412. In 2005, according to Spain's National Institute of Statistics, there were more than 50,000 Dominicans resident in Spain.

The majority of Dominican immigrants to Spain are from the southwestern region of the DR. In 1994, 60% of Dominican immigrants to Spain came from this region, leaving behind lands of extreme poverty which has been a point of departure for more promising lands for decades.

The growing relations between the two countries coupled with Spain's increased economic development, increased demand for labor in the services sector, and lack of ability to satisfy this demand gave rise to the Dominican migration to Spain.

Researcher Dr. Juan Romero Valiente of the University of Huelva identifies four specific factors contributing to the migratory phenomenon:

The development in Spain of a demand for inexpensive, mannered, and primarily female laborers to perform domestic service.
Acute underdevelopment in the Southwestern region of the DR, which registers the highest poverty rates in the entire country (Ramírez y Duval 1994,9)
Traditional lack of immigration from the Southwestern region to the United States, Puerto Rico, or Venezuela. This notably reduces the ability of these populations to generate migratory chains toward these countries, which already house prominent Dominican populations from the regions of Cibao (United States) and Este (Puerto Rico).
The pioneering of immigrants from the Southwest into domestic service in Spain, which would have favored the development of very active migratory chains from specific areas of this region.