Spain has approved a sweeping measure to regularize the legal status of approximately 500,000 undocumented immigrants living in the country, a move that is poised to make Colombians the nation’s largest foreign demographic over other prominent groups like Moroccans.
The initiative, approved via Royal Decree to bypass the need for parliamentary validation, allows foreign nationals who arrived in Spain before Dec. 31, 2025, to apply for legal residency and work permits.
Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration Elma Saiz called it a “historic day” and stated the measure was “necessary to respond to the reality that exists in our streets.”
Spain’s mass regularization of immigrants: process and requirements
The regularization process targets immigrants who have been in Spain for at least five months before the cutoff date. Applicants must prove their presence through public or private documents, such as municipal registration (empadronamiento), rental contracts, medical records, or proof of remittance payments. Successful applicants will be granted a provisional residence authorization, allowing them to work legally in any sector.
According to reporting by BBC News Mundo, the state will grant a residence authorization for a period of one year, at the end of which the person may request an ordinary authorization in accordance with immigration regulations.
The application period is scheduled to open in early April and run through June. To protect families, the decree allows for the simultaneous regularization of children, who will receive a five-year permit.
Political fallout
The government, a coalition including the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Sumar, utilized a Royal Decree to enact the policy, avoiding a likely blockage in Congress. The measure has drawn sharp criticism from right-wing opposition parties.
According to reporting by La FM Colombia, the leader of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijoo, said that the response of President Pedro Sanchez is “a massive regularization to divert attention, increase the call effect and overwhelm public services,” Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right party Vox, characterized the decree as promoting an “invasion,” while the PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, argued that residency should be linked to employment rather than time spent in the country.
Conversely, government partners defended the move. Second Vice President Yolanda Diaz assured that it is “a step toward a more just and democratic society.” This is the first major regularization process in Spain in two decades. The last comparable event occurred in 2005 under the left-wing government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, which regularized nearly 578,000 people. Previous administrations, including those led by the conservative PP under Jose Maria Aznar, conducted similar processes in 1996, 2000, and 2001.
