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Nearly a million migrants have applied to legalise their status in Spain

The country's biggest regularisation drive in two decades closes with applications far outstripping early estimates

Spain's extraordinary regularisation process for undocumented migrants came to a close on Tuesday June 30, after two and a half months of processing, with figures that have taken almost everyone by surprise.

According to government sources, around 1.2 million applications were registered by the deadline, more than double what the government originally expected when it opened the scheme on April 16. The plan, opened for applications back in April, allowed anyone who could prove residence in Spain before January 2026 and at least five months living in the country to apply for a one year residence and work permit.

A bigger response than anyone predicted

The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, called the process a "procedural success" at a press conference following the Council of Ministers meeting, noting it had effectively taken over from a citizens' petition that had originally called for regularising just half a million people. She was careful to point out that the early estimates were never official figures, only rough projections.

Pedro de Santiago, spokesperson for Accem, one of around 500 organisations that helped applicants through the process, told reporters that the scale of the response "shows that there were many people who needed this process to take place because they were already living and, in many cases, working in our country." Mauricio Valiente, director general of CEAR, echoed that view, saying the need had been "even greater than we had anticipated."

Officials caution that the final number will likely come down once duplicate and incomplete applications are filtered out. CEAR estimates the true figure could settle closer to 900,000, with around 30% of submissions accepted for processing so far. Even so, this looks set to be the largest regularisation since Spain's first in 1986, surpassing the 2005 process under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Chaos, queues and complaints

The rollout wasn't without its problems. The opening weeks saw long queues at town halls, immigration offices and embassies, as applicants scrambled to gather registration certificates and criminal record checks. Several autonomous communities complained that the government had failed to provide extra funding to cope with the population increase that successful applicants would bring, particularly around access to healthcare and education, with some communities even taking the decree to the Constitutional Court.

Murcia has previously been highlighted as a region where migrants actually place less strain on local healthcare resources than is often assumed, a point worth bearing in mind given the funding row.

By nationality, Colombians account for 30% of all applications, followed by Moroccans on 14%, Venezuelans on 10% and Peruvians on 9%. Delays in processing and in issuing permit cards have also frustrated applicants, with some unable to start working while they wait.

What it means for those who applied

For the people behind the numbers, the impact runs much deeper than paperwork. Mauricio Valiente says regularisation "normalises the lives of many people who were already living in Spain, allowing them to access the labour market, move around without fear, and facilitates family reunification."

Accem's Pedro de Santiago adds that, above all, successful applicants will be able to live "without fear" of deportation, while finally gaining equal access to healthcare, social security and long-term care, rights that most people take for granted but which can be life-changing for those who have lacked them.

Public attitudes towards immigration remain notably divided across generations in the Region of Murcia, according to a survey published earlier this year, and a separate report has examined what Spain might look like with significantly fewer immigrants, underlining just how high the stakes are around this debate.

Souleymane Cissé knows that feeling well, having gone through Spain's 2005 regularisation after four years working without a contract. "Having papers gave me independence," he says now, twenty years on, with three children through university.

For Adriana Ardila, who arrived from Colombia in the same period, the change was just as profound. "Regularisation gave us back our dignity as people," she says, "and the peace of mind of feeling like we belonged in this society."

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