Spain’s left-wing administration has approved a decree to regularise the status of roughly 500,000 undocumented migrants, marking another departure from tougher approaches seen elsewhere in Europe, reports RTE.
Migration Minister Elma Saiz said those covered would be allowed to work “in any sector, in any part of the country”, and highlighted “the positive impact” of migration, reports RTE.
“We are talking about estimations, probably more or less the figures may be around half a million people,” she told public broadcaster RTVE, reports RTE.
Ms Saiz said at a press conference following today’s cabinet meeting that “we are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, coexistence, and compatible with economic growth and social cohesion”.
The scheme will apply to people who have lived in Spain for at least five months and who applied for international protection before 31 December 2025, reports RTE.
Applicants must have no criminal record, and the regularisation will also extend to their children who already reside in Spain.
The application window is expected to open in April and run until the end of June, reports RTE.
The measure will be enacted through a decree that does not require parliamentary approval, where the Socialist-led coalition does not hold a majority.
Conservative and far-right opposition parties criticised the move, arguing that the regularisation would incentivise further illegal immigration, reports RTE.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the Popular Party and the main right-wing opposition force, wrote on X that the “ludicrous” proposal would “overwhelm our public services”.
“In Socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded,” he said, pledging to overhaul migration policy “from top to bottom” if he came to power, reports RTE.
The Spanish Catholic Church was among the groups welcoming the decision, describing it as “an act of social justice and recognition”.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain requires migration to address labour shortages and offset an ageing population that could threaten pensions and the welfare system, reports RTE.
Mr Sánchez has said migration was responsible for 80% of Spain’s strong economic growth over the past six years.
Official figures released today showed that 52,500 of the 76,200 people who boosted employment in the final quarter of last year were foreign nationals, helping drive unemployment to its lowest level since 2008, reports RTE.
Spain’s more permissive approach contrasts with a wider trend of governments tightening migration rules under pressure from far-right parties gaining influence across the European Union.
About 840,000 undocumented migrants were living in Spain at the start of January 2025, most of them from Latin America, according to the Funcas think tank, reports RTE.
Spain is one of Europe’s primary entry points for irregular migrants fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution, with tens of thousands — mainly from sub-Saharan Africa — arriving in the Canary Islands off the northwest African coast.
According to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute, more than seven million foreign nationals live in Spain out of a total population of 49.4 million people, reports RTE.
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