US EditionSpain to Grant Legal Status to Half a Million Undocumented Migrants
The plan grants temporary residence and work rights to around 500,000 undocumented migrants, aiming to integrate them legally without attracting new arrivals, officials said.
- In a move approved by the Council of Ministers, the Spanish government is launching a regularisation via Royal Decree, expected to benefit about 700,000 undocumented migrants already living and working in Spain.
- Responding to a citizens' initiative backed by more than 700,000 signatures, the decree follows months of political deadlock and a PSOE–Podemos agreement, framing reform on human rights and social cohesion.
- Eligibility requires foreign nationals to prove presence before 31 December 2025 and five months' residence, with authorities accepting medical records, utility bills, or money-transfer receipts.
- Once an application is submitted, administrative deportation and expulsion orders linked to working without a permit are suspended, but people with criminal records are excluded; the Popular Party and other opposition actors called the plan a 'smokescreen' and warned of pressures on public services.
- The move revives past precedents, with Spain carrying out eight extraordinary regularisations since the 1980s, including nearly 578,000 regularised in 2005 under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero; choosing a Royal Decree route avoids parliamentary validation, while the government frames legal certainty and non-attraction.
68 Articles
68 Articles
Spain to grant legal status to half a million undocumented migrants
Spain has announced it will grant legal status to 500,000 undocumented migrants, in a move that goes against a trend of anti-immigration rhetoric and policies in the United States and much of Europe.
Spain Approves Historic Legalization for Half a Million Undocumented Immigrants
Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Credit: Carlos Delgado – CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Spain has approved a sweeping measure to regularize the legal status of approximately 500,000 undocumented immigrants living in the country, a move that is poised to make Colombians the nation’s largest foreign demographic over other prominent groups like Moroccans. The initiative, approved via Royal Decree to bypass the need for parliamentary validation, allows…
The Spanish government has reached an agreement with the left-wing Podemos with the aim of regularizing about 500,000 migrants, according to estimates. As the newspaper points out... The article Spain: about 500,000 migrants will be regularized thanks to a royal decree appeared first on current values.
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