Spain moves to ease migration rules
Spain’s coalition government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has reached an agreement to launch the country’s first large-scale migrant regularization program in the past two decades, Qazinform News Agency reports.
On January 27, Spain’s Council of Ministers is set to approve a Royal Decree introducing a fast-track procedure for granting legal status to foreign nationals who were residing in the country before December 31, 2025 and can prove at least five months of continuous stay.
Under the decree, ongoing administrative expulsion procedures will be suspended. Applicants will be granted a one-year temporary residence permit, renewable under standard conditions. The new status also provides the right to work, access to the public healthcare system, and registration with social security.
An official assessment of the scale of the initiative has not yet been published. However, according to the Podemos party, “just over half a million people” are expected to benefit from the regularization, while analysts at the independent think tank Funcas estimate the potential number at around 600,000.
The government stresses that mass regularization is viewed as the most effective tool for reducing undeclared employment and combating labor exploitation. Authorities estimate that the number of irregular migrants living in Spain stands at about 840,000. Officials also point to the 2005 regularization campaign, during which around 580,000 residence permits were issued, contributing, according to the government, to higher formal employment and increased tax revenues.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said that around 400 temporary staff members will be hired and a single online application portal will be launched to prevent regional migration offices from becoming overstretched.
Meanwhile, the initiative has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition. Popular Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said that mass regularization amounts to a “reward for illegal migration” and pledged to repeal the decree if his party returns to power. He also questioned the legal basis of the measure, noting that previous regularization campaigns were approved by parliament.
In response, the government recalled that Spain’s Constitution allows for the adoption of Royal Decrees in cases of “extraordinary and urgent necessity,” while stressing that the measure will in any case be subject to parliamentary approval within 30 days.
Experts at the Autonomous University of Madrid believe that despite political disputes, the decree is highly likely to remain in force. According to their data, Spain has carried out eight migrant regularization waves since the 1980s, under both Socialist and conservative governments.
Against the backdrop of Spain’s move toward mass regularization, a number of European countries are instead tightening requirements for foreign nationals. In the United Kingdom, from January 8, 2026, migrants seeking employment will be required to demonstrate English language proficiency at no lower than B2 level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
