Spain's Government to Offer Legal Status to 500,000 Undocumented Migrants

Spain's New Migration Policy

MADRID, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Spain's Socialist-led government presented a draft decree on Tuesday to expedite legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, in its latest move to integrate migrant workers even as other European countries curb immigration.

Overview of the Decree

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.

Impact on Economic Growth

Migration Minister Elma Saiz told a news conference irregular migrants who have lived in Spain for at least five months as of the end of 2025 and have no criminal record, as well as those who had applied for asylum before the end of the year, would be eligible for the accelerated residence permit.

Pathway to Citizenship

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, noting that economists across the region have attributed Spain's falling unemployment and strong growth in part to its openness to migrants.

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, but 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.

(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Victoria Waldersee and Corina Pons, editing by Andrei Khalip, William Maclean)