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The Spanish government has announced a plan to legalise the status of undocumented migrants, a measure expected to benefit at least half a million people.<\/p>\n
Regularisation will be available to foreign nationals who do not have a criminal record and can prove they lived in Spain for at least five months prior to 31 December 2025.<\/p>\n
“This is an historic day for our country,” said Elma Saiz, Spain’s minister of inclusion, social security and migration. <\/p>\n
The measure will provide beneficiaries with an initial one-year residence permit, which can then be extended. Requests for legalisation are expected to begin in April and the process will remain open until the end of June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“We are reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, integration, co-existence and which is compatible with economic growth and social cohesion,” Saiz said.<\/p>\n
Spain has seen a large influx of migrants in recent years, mainly from Latin America.<\/p>\n
The conservative think-tank Funcas found that the number of undocumented migrants in Spain had risen from 107,409 in 2017 to 837,938 in 2025 – an eight-fold increase. <\/p>\n
The highest number of undocumented arrivals currently living in Spain are believed to be from Colombia, Peru and Honduras.<\/p>\n
Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has been an outlier on this issue among the larger European nations, underlining the importance of migrants for the economy. <\/p>\n
The country has been outperforming the other main EU economies in recent years, posting expected growth of close to 3% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Unemployment, a longstanding weakness of the Spanish economy, has dipped below 10% for the first time since 2008, according to figures released on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has described immigrants as representing “wealth, development and prosperity” for Spain, pointing to their contribution to the social security system.<\/p>\n
The government and parties on the left have also emphasised the need to treat migrants in a humane way.<\/p>\n
“Providing rights is the answer to racism,” said Irene Montero, of the far-left Podemos party and a former minister in a coalition government with the Socialists.<\/p>\n
She has campaigned for this measure, which followed an agreement between the party and the government. A civic legislative proposal, calling for a mass migrant regularisation, received the support of around 700,000 people but had been languishing in parliament.<\/p>\n
This measure will be approved by royal decree, meaning it does not require parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n
It is the first large-scale migrant regularisation in Spain for two decades.<\/p>\n
Several such initiatives, by governments of both the Socialists and the conservative People’s Party (PP), legalised the status of an estimated half a million migrants between 1986 and 2005.<\/p>\n
However, Alberto N\u00fa\u00f1ez Feij\u00f3o, leader of the PP, said the latest mass legalisation would “increase the pull effect and overwhelm our public services”.<\/p>\n
Pepa Mill\u00e1n, spokeswoman for the far-right Vox, said the initiative “attacks our identity”, adding that the party would appeal before the Supreme Court in a bid to block it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n