Spain approves regularisation of undocumented immigrants

Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has approved a decree it says will regularise 500,000 undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, rejecting the anti-migration policies and rhetoric prevalent across much of Europe.

- Sam Jones Madrid Ashifa Kassam

The decree, expected to come into effect in April, will apply to hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and people in Spain with irregular status. To qualify for regularisation, applicants will have to prove they do not have a criminal record and they lived in Spain for at least five months - or had sought international protection - before 31 December 2025.

Elma Saiz, Spain’s minister for inclusion, social security and migration, said it was a “historic day”, and the aim was to “break the bureaucratic barriers of the past”.

Saiz said the programme, which is being brought in by royal decree, meaning it does not require parliamentary approval, would benefit Spain as a whole. “We’re reinforcing a migratory model based on human rights, on integration and on coexistence that’s compatible with both economic growth and social cohesion,” she said.