Spain’s left-wing government has approved a decree to grant legal status to an estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants, a sweeping regularisation that underscores Madrid’s divergence from tougher migration policies elsewhere in Europe.
Migration Minister Elma Saiz said those who qualify will be able to work “in any sector, in any part of the country,” framing the plan as both an economic necessity and a rights-based reform. “We are talking about estimations, probably more or less the figures may be around half a million people,” she told public broadcaster RTVE. After a cabinet meeting, Saiz said Spain was “strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, coexistence, and compatible with economic growth and social cohesion.”
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The decree will allow applicants with a clean criminal record to apply for residency and work authorization, and it extends regularisation to their children already living in Spain. The government expects the application window to open in April and run through the end of June.
By proceeding via decree, the Socialist-led coalition avoids a parliamentary vote it would likely struggle to win; it lacks a majority in the legislature. The government argues the measure is designed to align legal status with economic reality, bringing hundreds of thousands of people into the formal labor market and tax base.
Conservative and far-right parties condemned the plan, warning it would spur further irregular arrivals. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the center-right Popular Party, called the initiative “ludicrous,” writing on X that it would “overwhelm our public services.” “In Socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded,” he said, vowing to overhaul migration rules “from top to bottom” if his party returns to power.
Supporters applauded the move as overdue. The Spanish Catholic Church praised the decree as “an act of social justice and recognition,” aligning itself with nongovernmental groups that have pushed for a broad regularisation to cut exploitation and ease access to healthcare, schooling and formal employment.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly argued that Spain needs migration to fill workforce gaps and offset an aging population that threatens the pension system and wider welfare state. He has said migration accounted for 80% of Spain’s strong economic growth over the last six years.
Fresh labor data released the same day as the decree highlighted migrants’ role in the economy: of the 76,200 people added to employment in the final quarter of last year, 52,500 were foreigners, helping drive the jobless rate to its lowest level since 2008, according to official figures.
The regularisation also sets Spain apart within the European Union at a time when governments across the bloc, under pressure from far-right parties, have tightened asylum and border controls. Madrid remains one of Europe’s main gateways for irregular migration, with tens of thousands of people—many from sub-Saharan Africa—arriving by sea to the Canary Islands, an Atlantic archipelago off northwestern Africa.
At the start of January 2025, about 840,000 undocumented migrants were living in Spain, most of them from Latin America, according to the Funcas think tank. Overall, more than 7 million foreign nationals reside in Spain, whose population stands at 49.4 million, the National Statistics Institute reports.
The government has not yet provided a detailed breakdown of eligibility beyond the clean-record requirement and the inclusion of children already in the country. Officials signaled that the process is meant to be swift and administratively manageable, with the spring application window designed to channel cases quickly through Spain’s immigration system.
The decree now sets the stage for a pitched political fight over migration and integration, even as businesses facing labor shortages and civic groups press for a smooth rollout. With applications expected to open in April, the coming months will test whether the promise of regularisation can translate into faster hiring, broader social inclusion and fewer incentives for irregular work.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
