Spain weighs more than 1 million migrant status applications

Spain is processing more than 1 million applications from migrants seeking legal status under its first broad regularisation programme since 2005. The scheme could reshape access to work, housing and public protections for people already living in the country without papers.

The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said 1,174,978 people applied before the programme closed on June 30, according to Al Jazeera. About 608,000 applications have been accepted for processing, giving those applicants provisional residence and work permits while they await final decisions. So far, 11,000 cases have received favourable rulings.

The programme opened in April, and the government has three months to resolve most of the cases, Al Jazeera reported. It comes as many European governments are taking a harder line on irregular migration.

Applicants seek work rights and stability

Badr Tmairi, a 22-year-old from Morocco, told Al Jazeera he has lived in Spain without legal status for six years. He arrived alone at 16, briefly gained residency after turning 18 and then lost it after missing a renewal deadline.

Tmairi said he wants to recover his papers so he can work as a hairdresser and visit relatives in Morocco. Al Jazeera reported that he has been homeless for the past year, and that lacking documents has made it difficult for him to find work and stable housing.

Rocio Neciosupe, 54, a cleaner from Peru, has lived without legal status in Spain for two years, according to Al Jazeera. She works in private homes across several buildings in Madrid and is recovering from a back injury suffered in a fall at work.

Neciosupe said she wants to work with rights, including paid sick leave. Without documents or a formal contract, Al Jazeera reported, she cannot claim sick pay, so her husband has been helping her complete cleaning jobs while she recovers. Neciosupe, her husband and their two daughters have had their applications accepted for processing.

Government casts programme as economic policy

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has defended the measure in economic terms. In a public address cited by Al Jazeera, Sanchez said Spain’s gross domestic product would be 19 percent lower by 2050 without migration, and said 90,000 bars, 50,000 classrooms and 220,000 farms would disappear.

The government’s case rests in part on labour shortages, including in care work for an ageing population. Josselyn Aguirre, a 32-year-old nursing assistant from Ecuador, told Al Jazeera she moved to Spain in 2024 after her plan to go to the United States fell through when her visa application was rejected.

Aguirre said she wants to remain in Spain and care for older people. She told Al Jazeera that staff shortages are straining the sector in Spain and elsewhere, and that allowing trained workers to regularise their status helps them contribute professionally.

Al Jazeera reported that the applicants had already been living in Spain and working in the informal economy, in many cases for years. The group is 57 percent male, most applicants are from Latin America, and six in 10 are under 34. The regularisation process has also led 159,097 additional people to register with the Social Security system.

Advocates say the process is only a start

Edith Espinola, president of the Active Domestic Workers’ Service Association and spokesperson for Regularizacion Ya, told Al Jazeera the number of applications shows both demand for legal status and a failure to protect vulnerable people. Regularizacion Ya, a migrant-led collective, has campaigned for regularisation since 2020 with support from civil society groups, the Catholic Church, unions and business associations.

Gonzalo Fanjul, director of ISGlobal’s policy and development team and head of research at the porCausa Foundation, said Spain has chosen growth but still must address the system that left so many people without status. Espinola said migrant groups will monitor the process to ensure applications are handled properly.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.