Spain’s left-wing government has approved a plan to grant legal status to roughly 500,000 illegal migrants, marking the country’s first large-scale regularization effort in nearly 20 years.
The measure was confirmed Tuesday by the socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and enacted through a royal decree, allowing it to take effect without a vote in parliament. The policy follows an agreement between Sanchez’s Socialist Party and the far-left Podemos party, GB News.
Under the plan, migrants will be eligible to apply for legal status if they can show they were living in Spain for at least five months before December 31, 2025, and can demonstrate they have no criminal record. Successful applicants will receive one-year residence permits, with the option to renew. Applications are set to open in April and will remain available through June 30 of next year.
“This is a historic day for our country,” said Elma Saiz, Spain’s minister for inclusion, social security, and migration. She said the government was responding to what she described as an existing reality across the country.
Spain’s move comes as several major European countries have shifted toward stricter immigration enforcement.
Saiz said the government is instead pursuing what she called a migration model focused on integration and social cohesion. “We are reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, integration and coexistence,” she said.
Government officials have repeatedly framed the policy as an economic measure. Spain’s central bank and the United Nations have both said the country needs roughly 300,000 migrant workers per year to maintain its welfare system. Sánchez has previously described migration as a source of “wealth, development and prosperity,” citing migrant contributions to Spain’s social security programs.
Research from the Spanish think tank Funcas estimates that the number of illegal migrants in Spain has grown sharply in recent years, rising to about 840,000 by early 2025. The majority are believed to come from Latin America, with Colombia, Peru, and Honduras accounting for the largest groups.
Spain has used similar policies in the past. Between 1986 and 2005, successive governments approved multiple regularization programs that collectively legalized about 500,000 migrants.
Opposition parties reacted to the announcement, People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo warned the move would “increase the pull effect and overwhelm public services.” Vox Party spokeswoman Pepa Millán said the policy “attacks our identity” and confirmed the party will challenge the decree in Spain’s Supreme Court.
The measure was confirmed Tuesday by the socialist-led government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and enacted through a royal decree, allowing it to take effect without a vote in parliament. The policy follows an agreement between Sanchez’s Socialist Party and the far-left Podemos party, GB News.
Under the plan, migrants will be eligible to apply for legal status if they can show they were living in Spain for at least five months before December 31, 2025, and can demonstrate they have no criminal record. Successful applicants will receive one-year residence permits, with the option to renew. Applications are set to open in April and will remain available through June 30 of next year.
“This is a historic day for our country,” said Elma Saiz, Spain’s minister for inclusion, social security, and migration. She said the government was responding to what she described as an existing reality across the country.
Spain’s move comes as several major European countries have shifted toward stricter immigration enforcement.
Saiz said the government is instead pursuing what she called a migration model focused on integration and social cohesion. “We are reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, integration and coexistence,” she said.
Government officials have repeatedly framed the policy as an economic measure. Spain’s central bank and the United Nations have both said the country needs roughly 300,000 migrant workers per year to maintain its welfare system. Sánchez has previously described migration as a source of “wealth, development and prosperity,” citing migrant contributions to Spain’s social security programs.
Research from the Spanish think tank Funcas estimates that the number of illegal migrants in Spain has grown sharply in recent years, rising to about 840,000 by early 2025. The majority are believed to come from Latin America, with Colombia, Peru, and Honduras accounting for the largest groups.
Spain has used similar policies in the past. Between 1986 and 2005, successive governments approved multiple regularization programs that collectively legalized about 500,000 migrants.
Opposition parties reacted to the announcement, People’s Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo warned the move would “increase the pull effect and overwhelm public services.” Vox Party spokeswoman Pepa Millán said the policy “attacks our identity” and confirmed the party will challenge the decree in Spain’s Supreme Court.
