Spain to grant legal status to half a million unauthorized immigrants

The Spanish governmentt has approved a Royal Decree that will allow around half a million migrants living in the country without legal status to apply for residence permits and work authorization. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the move shows his government is recognizing the rights of people already living in Spain. "We recognize rights, but we also demand obligations," Sanchez was quoted by the Spanish media as saying, adding that the move is supported by employers because labor is needed to sustain economic growth. Having an additional half a million people contributing to Spain's Social Security system will benefit both the country's economy and its pension system, Sanchez said. He said that as immigrants from Spain had historically flowed to other nations, the country had a moral obligation to welcome newcomers just as its own people had been embraced elsewhere. But he stressed that the status issue was also a pragmatic necessity. Spain child of migration… ‘we will not be parents of xenophobia, said the PM.

Spain child of migration… ‘we will not be parents of xenophobia’ — PM

Crowd goes WILD as country legalises HALF MILLION illegal migrants pic.twitter.com/Qya6fTQeOu

— RT (@RT_com) April 18, 2026

According to the decree, the measure applies to people who were already in Spain before Jan. 1, 2026, and have lived in the country continuously for at least five months, with no criminal record or security-related concerns. The Spanish government has said that foreigners account for around 14.1 percent of Social Security contributors by the end of 2025, and immigration has been a key driver of Spain's economic growth in recent years. Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and Spain's Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility have said Spain needs between 200,000 and 250,000 migrants each year to offset a declining birth rate and an aging population.
Meanwhile, opponents of Spain’s extraordinary regularisation suffered an early legal setback on 16 April when the Supreme Court rejected an urgent petition to freeze the decree only 24 hours after it entered into force. The application, filed by an association backed by several regional governments, argued that rapid implementation would create ‘irreversible effects’. The court disagreed, ordering the case to follow the normal ten-day hearing timetable. The decision means the filing window for up to half a million undocumented migrants remains fully open at least until June, removing immediate legal uncertainty for applicants and their employers.