Spain’s left-leaning government has finalized an amnesty measure that could allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants to apply for temporary legal residence permits. The plan, first announced earlier this year by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is being enacted by royal decree rather than through parliament.
Who qualifies and how it works
The scheme applies only to people who can prove they arrived in Spain before January 1 of this year, a cutoff intended to discourage a surge of new arrivals after the announcement. Eligible irregular migrants may obtain a one-year temporary residence permit if they can show five months’ residence in Spain and have no criminal record in Spain or elsewhere. After that year, beneficiaries can apply for longer-term work or residency permits.
Rationale and logistics
The government says the move supports economic growth and will help bring workers into taxed employment, shrinking the untaxed shadow economy. Migration Minister Elma Saiz said in-person applications open April 20 and online applications open on Thursday, with the application window closing June 30. A Spanish union representing immigration officers has warned that more resources are needed to handle the expected wave of applications.
Political response and context
Sánchez announced the decree during a visit to China, calling the measure “an act of normalization, of recognizing the reality of nearly half a million people who already form part of our daily life. And, also, an act of justice and a necessity.” He said the government recognizes rights but also expects obligations from those who regularize their status.
Estimates of the undocumented population vary. The government suggests roughly 500,000 people could be eligible, while think tank Funcas estimates about 840,000. Spain’s population is nearly 50 million and includes an estimated 7.2 million foreign nationals, many from Colombia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa, or Morocco, including Spain’s North African enclaves.
The center-right Popular Party criticized the measure as unsustainable. Amnesty policies are not new in Spain: previous regularizations took place six times between 1986 and 2005. This iteration was fast-tracked using a mechanism to amend immigration laws, bypassing parliament because the government lacked a majority to pass the change there; an earlier attempt at a parliamentary amnesty had stalled.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru