Unregistered Colombian Engineer in Lugo Faces Charges for Selling Empanadas

Unregistered Colombian engineer in Lugo faces charges for selling empanadas

Can you survive by trinc the rules when the rules prevent you from doing so? Fabián Romero, a 30-year-old Colombian civil engineer, sells empanadas early in the morning in Lugo’s historic center. Local police reported him for operating without municipal or health permits and referred the case to Immigration authorities due to his irregular status. His defense is simple: the business is registered, and he only lacks the work permit.

He arrived from Bucaramanga in September 2021, completing two years in the city with his partner, Diana Coronado, and their nearly four-year-old daughter. He was granted political asylum, but his application for a red card (residence permit) was denied, and he claims he never received the explanatory resolution. While appeals are possible, he remains unable to work legally.

Why can’t he register as self-employed?

Because self-employment requires a work permit, which he lacks, registration is impossible. This administrative bottleneck is his main argument: it is not a lack of will or knowledge, but a systemic block. After failing to find employment between September and November 2021, he decided to cook and sell food.

Critics point to a design flaw in current immigration laws: to gain residency, one must prove income, but to generate taxable income, one needs a work permit. Without the permit, demonstrating solvency is impossible. The circle has no exit.

The criticism extends beyond paperwork. Some argue that denouncing irregularity without offering a viable alternative perpetuates the informal economy rather than regularizing it.

The business exists on paper, but not him

The most uncomfortable detail: his brother, who has full legal status, registered as self-employed to legalize the activity. They completed food handler training, registered with Tax Authorities, and pay quarterly taxes. Romero remains excluded from his own family business due to one missing permit.

The business grew from a few homemade Colombian empanadas to dozens sold to pub-goers through word of mouth. He now serves a fixed clientele, covering rent and food.

The paradox: there is real demand, product, clients, and fiscal registration. Only one person’s work permit is missing for a business already registered by his family.

Health controls, unfair competition, and paperwork: the three fronts of criticism

Consensus breaks into three areas. One view argues that selling street food at night without municipal or health permits poses a health risk and unfair competition against licensed locals who pay licenses, utilities, and taxes. This is the classic financial argument: one person’s costs become another’s lost income.

The second rebuttal is factual: the business is registered with Tax Authorities, and the only missing link is a residence and work permit. If fiscal intent were lacking, there would be no registration or quarterly payments.

The third view targets the system’s design, not the individual. It highlights that requiring income for residency, and residency for income, leaves informal activity as the only option. The recurring criticism is the bureaucratic labyrinth, not the specific law.

What is usually described in the asylum labyrinth

The typical itinerary for such cases involves: an international protection application, a waiting period with extensions, denial, and then exceptional circumstances protection, which grants residency through different channels. According to this view, time favors those who endure the process, not those who win it.

Note: These are administrative descriptions circulating among those trinc these cases, not an official manual. Each file has its own timelines. Romero’s sequence is clear: asylum granted, work permit obtained, renewal denied, and an explanatory resolution that, he says, never arrived.

A family detail explains why Lugo: his mother was a police officer in Colombia and moved to Lugo four years ago. The walled city was the logical destination for a family seeking safety from deteriorating security conditions.

What remains to be resolved

Romero explores integration pathways to obtain residence and work authorization to open a physical store. His declared goal is to stay and operate legally. The problem is that legal operation depends on a document that currently exists only in his brother’s file.

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The underlying question remains unresolved by any regulation: does the system reward partial formalization or punish total formalization attempts? Romero has chosen the latter for two years and continues carrying his bag.