Spain: 500,000 undocumented migrants to get legal status in sweeping amnesty

Spain has announced plans to grant legal residency and work permits to 500,000 undocumented migrants.

This marks one of the most ambitious immigration regularisation efforts in Europe and sharply diverging from the increasingly hard-line rhetoric seen in the United States and across much of the continent.

The measure, announced Tuesday, is designed to bring workers out of Spain’s underground economy, where undocumented migrants are often vulnerable to exploitation.

Spanish authorities say the policy is not only a humanitarian move but also an economic necessity.

Both Spain’s central bank and the United Nations have warned that the country needs around 300,000 migrant workers every year to sustain its welfare state as the population ages and birth rates fall.

“Today is a historic day for our country,” Immigration Minister Elma Saiz said at a press conference.

“We are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, coexistence, and compatibility with economic growth and social cohesion.”

Saiz described the policy as a pragmatic response to a reality already visible on Spain’s streets and workplaces, adding that the regularisation would ultimately benefit the national economy.

Spain’s presidency echoed that message, saying the measure would allow migrants to live “with dignity” while contributing openly to society.

Under the new framework, foreigners who arrived in Spain before December 31, 2025, and who can prove they have lived in the country for at least five months, will be eligible for legal residency of up to one year.

Successful applicants will also receive work permits valid across all sectors and regions of Spain. Applicants must demonstrate that they have no criminal record.

Applications will open in early April and remain available until June 30, 2026.

Despite its scale, the policy will cover only a portion of Spain’s undocumented population.

According to estimates by Funcas, a research center linked to Spain’s banking association, there were approximately 840,000 undocumented migrants in the country at the beginning of 2025.

The vast majority — around 760,000 people — are from Latin America, with the largest groups coming from Colombia, Peru, and Honduras.

Funcas estimates that the number of undocumented migrants in Spain has increased eight-fold since 2017, underscoring the pressure facing policymakers.

Tuesday’s announcement builds on a reform that took effect in May last year, aimed at simplifying and accelerating legalisation processes.

The government said that earlier measure could allow up to 900,000 people to obtain legal status over a three-year period.

Spain has a long history of large-scale regularizations. Since the 1980s, at least six major programs have granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants under governments from across the political spectrum.

The move by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government comes amid renewed criticism from US President Donald Trump, who has warned that Europe is “in serious trouble” because of what he calls overly permissive immigration policies — highlighting just how far Spain is now stepping away from the dominant political mood in much of the West.