500K Migrants in Spain Could Gain Legal Status

Spain just put out a welcome mat for undocumented migrants while much of the West is slamming doors, the New York Times reports. In a surprise move Tuesday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government approved a decree that lets hundreds of thousands of undocumented people already in Spain apply for a one-year residency permit, renewable and with the right to work.

To qualify, applicants must show they arrived before December 2025, have lived in Spain at least five months, and have no criminal record. The application window will run from April to June. Spain doesn't keep official counts, but think tank estimates put the undocumented population at 500,000 to 1 million, in a country of about 50 million. Outlets including the BBC estimate the new residency path could impact half a million migrants in the country.

Migration Minister Elma Saiz Delgado framed the measure as a boost to "social cohesion" and the economy, pointing to the heavy reliance on foreign labor in agriculture, tourism, and other sectors. A 2021 citizens' initiative backed by more than 700,000 signatures, including the Catholic Church and migrant groups, helped build pressure for action, which was sealed by a last-minute deal with the left-wing Unidas Podemos party. The move follows migrants' key role during the pandemic and research showing foreign workers have helped ease labor shortages and support growth in the country. As CNN notes, the new path to residency will also help push back against labor exploitation in the country's underground labor market.

The decree instantly polarized politics. The conservative Popular Party accused Sánchez of using the measure to divert attention from a recent deadly train crash, while far-right party Vox vowed to take the measure to Spain's Supreme Court, denouncing it as "accelerating an invasion." The policy marks a sharp contrast with crackdowns in the US, Britain, Greece, and Italy, and continues Spain's pattern of periodic mass regularizations since the 1980s—even as it also funds North African countries like Morocco and Mauritania to block new arrivals from Africa. Most of the undocumented migrants in Spain are from Latin America.