PAMPLONA –Unmarried foreign couples could be allowed residence if a law relating to immigrants is changed, it was reported Wednesday.

A regional government in Navarra, north-west Spain, provisionally approved a change in the Law on Foreigners, which would allow immigrants to obtain a residence permit.

It followed another change in Navarra in 2000, when the parliament allowed unmarried couples to have the same legal rights as married ones.

Navarra provoked controversy last month when it allowed a lesbian couple to adopt the twin daughters whom they gave birth to through artificial insemination.

If the change in the law is approved, it could mean other regional parliaments follow suit.

Left-wing MP José Miguel Nuin said that recognising the status of couples who cohabitate is a question of justice, equality and civil rights, including gay couples.

Juan José Lizarbe, spokesman for the socialist PSN, is also in favour of the proposal and said it was impossible to impede social evolution, which is changing faster than the laws.

But right-wing MP Alfredo Jaime opposed the change and said his party had the same stance against gay couples adopting children.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news