Spain to regularise roughly half a million undocumented migrants

Spain’s Socialist-led government presented a draft decree on Tuesday to expedite legal status for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

The move is part of its efforts to integrate migrant workers even as other European countries curb immigration

Spain's economic growth has by far outpaced most European peers in the past two years, at least in part boosted by an openness to immigration that has dynamised key sectors like hospitality and care, and bolstered the welfare state.

Migration Minister Elma Saiz told a news conference that irregular migrants who have lived in Spain for at least five months by the end of 2025 and have no criminal record would be eligible for the accelerated residence permit.

She added that migrants who applied for asylum before the end of the year would also qualify.

Some 500,000 people, mostly from Latin America, stand to benefit from the measure, according to government estimates.

The permit will be valid for a year or five in the case of children and renewable. After 10 years, the migrants could become citizens, or even quicker if they are from Latin America countries or refugees.

"We are strengthening a migration model based on human rights and integration, compatible with economic growth and social cohesion," Saiz told reporters. 

Research from think tank Funcas suggests that around 840,000 people, a third of all non-EU migrants in Spain, were undocumented at the start of last year, a sharp increase from eight years ago when the figure stood at roughly 100,000. 

A citizen-backed proposal to legalise undocumented migrants, signed by 700,000 people and backed by 900 rights groups and the Catholic Church, was filed over a year ago.

It later stalled in parliament, where disputes with splinter parties across the political spectrum have crippled the government’s ability to approve legislation.

In its current form, the decree can be enacted by the cabinet within a few weeks' time without parliamentary approval.

Conservative opposition leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo has vowed to overturn the government's migratory policies if his party wins the next election, taking place at the latest next year.

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