In surprise new policy, migrants living in Spain without permission can apply for legal residency

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in Spain without authorisation will soon be able to apply for legal residency under a new policy.

Spain’s government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorisation, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies seen in the United States and much of Europe.

Migration Minister Elma Saiz announced the extraordinary measure following a weekly cabinet meeting.

She said her government will amend existing immigration laws by expedited decree to grant immigrants who are living in Spain without authorisation legal residency of up to one year as well as permission to work.

The permits will apply to those who arrived in Spain before December 31, 2025, and who can prove they have lived in Spain for at least five months.

They must also prove they have no criminal record.

“I believe today is a great day for our country,” Saiz told journalists.

The measure could benefit between 500,000 and 800,000 people estimated by different organisations to be living in the shadows of Spanish society.

Many are Latin American or African immigrants working in the agricultural, tourism or service sectors, backbones of Spain’s growing economy.

The expedited decree bypasses a similar bill that has stalled in parliament.

Saiz said she expects immigrants will be able to start applying for their legal status from April once the decree comes into force.

The move came as a surprise to many after a last-minute deal between the ruling Socialist Party and the left-wing Podemos party in exchange for parliamentary support to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wobbly government.

The news was welcomed by hundreds of migrant rights groups and prominent Catholic associations who had campaigned and obtained 700,000 signatures for a similar initiative that was admitted for debate in Congress in 2024 but was unlikely to get enough votes to pass.