Spain’s left-wing government under the socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez will be at least 500,000 in the next few months Immigrants legalize those living in the country without a residence or work permit. Those affected can submit their application between the beginning of April and the end of June this year.
Condition: You must have been in Spain before December 31, 2025. To prove this, bills for electricity, water or telephone, registration in the municipal census or documents about doctor’s visits are sufficient. In addition, applicants must not have a criminal record.
“From the moment the application is accepted, they can work in any sector and anywhere in the country,” said the Minister of Social Security, Migration and Integration, Elma Saiz, on Tuesday. Applications will be processed “quickly and efficiently,” she added. The authorities would try to process the applications within two weeks. “We are very aware of the fact that work and family are two fundamental pillars,” Saiz continued. Minors who live with the applicants would therefore also be legalized.
The Sánchez government negotiated the massive legalization of immigrants with the small left-wing alternative Podemos. This supports the Socialists, who rule in a minority in parliament. Other left-wing groups, such as the Basque Bildu or the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), also support the project.
First massive legalization since 2005
Legalization will be implemented as a decree reforming immigration policies and does not have to go through parliament. While Minister Saiz assumes that there are around 500,000 immigrants who can apply, non-governmental organizations estimate the “sin papeles” – immigrants without papers – at up to 800,000.
In Spain, immigrants currently make up around 14 percent of the population. In addition, there are 2.5 million people who now have Spanish citizenship but were born outside Spain. It is the first massive legalization of immigrants since 2005 under the also socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. At that time, 578,000 people received papers.
“If they kidnap children, murder or terrorize people, we issue papers,” said Podemos MEP Irene Montero, referring to the USA, when she announced the agreement with Sánchez at an event on Monday evening.
The issue of legalization has been a concern in Spain for years. A broad alliance of immigrant and solidarity groups as well as trade unions and Catholic Caritas had collected 700,000 signatures for the regularization of undocumented immigrants living in the country and submitted them to the Spanish Parliament.
The conservatives are making a U-turn
In April 2024, parliament accepted the motion for debate with 310 votes in favor and 33 against – all except the right-wing extremist Vox. Since then, however, he has been on ice. The government is now relying on this very initiative.
But not everyone agrees with this. 2024 had that conservative People’s Party (PP) voted for a debate about regularization, also in order to clearly differentiate itself from the right-wing extremist Vox. Now that Vox is constantly making gains in regional elections and in the polls, the head of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, no longer wants to hear about regularization.
500,000 more legal immigrants are “exploding our public services” – such as the health and school systems – complains Feijóo and accuses Sánchez of regularizing other issues such as that Train wreckin which 45 people died last week, to distract attention.