Spain sees 1.3MILLION Applications from Undocumented Migrants – More than DOUBLE the Number Anticipated – After Socialist PM Threw the Doors Open in Largest Scheme of its Kind in European History
By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER
Spain has seen at least 1.3million applications from undocumented migrants in the largest scheme of its kind in European history.
The number of applications is more than double the 500,000 that the country’s centre-Left coalition government expected, according to data from the Mercurio platform, which registers applications from across Spain.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has touted the amnesty as an act of justice and has insisted it will help pursue economic growth while easing public tensions.
Undocumented migrants were invited to apply for amnesty on April 16.
More than 360,000 people out of 900,000 were granted provisional residency permits by mid-June.
The chief executive of the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR) – one of the major organisations supporting the process – Mauricio Valiente, has predicted that the final number of regularisations would be around 900,000.
He warned that some applications would be duplicate requests, saying ‘the percentage of approvals is very high’ because requirements were very straightforward.
Spain has long suffered from chronic delays in its immigration system, with thousands of migrants from Colombia or Senegal waiting years for asylum, which is rejected in over 90 percent of cases.
File image: Migrants queue at a public service office to obtain paperwork needed to apply for Spain’s immigration amnesty, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat near Barcelona, Spain, on April 21, 2026
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called the amnesty an act of justice
These strict policies have left roughly 840,000 undocumented migrants waiting for years to obtain other forms of residency, while living in the country and working off the books as they go through the process, according to think tank Funcas.
After the amnesty was announced, huge queues of migrants formed outside the application centres, where migrants had to prove they met the criteria to qualify for a one-year residence and work permit.
Applications were open to undocumented migrants who had been in the country since January 1, had a clean criminal record, and could prove they had spent five consecutive months in Spain.
The deadline for the application is Tuesday.
Applications made by the deadline will be processed over the next few weeks, and decisions on their outcomes will be made in three months.
Special provisions have also been made for migrants struggling to provide proof of a clean criminal record from their countries of origin before the deadline.
The expected number of approvals for Spain’s latest amnesty will surpass the half a million who were regularised in the country in 2005.
It is also larger than a similar amnesty in Italy in 2002, in which 634,700 undocumented migrant workers moved into the formal economy in the region’s biggest regularisation so far.
The move from the Spanish government is a massive contrast from the rest of Europe, where mostly conservative leaders have been clamping down on illegal immigration.
Sanchez has reportedly clashed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during this month’s European Council summit over the amnesty.
Meloni, who has called for tougher EU migration rules, fears the amnesty could impact the Schengen zone.
The amnesty was opposed by Spain’s main opposition centre-right party, Partido Popular (PP), and the hard-Right Vox, with both arguing it would attract more illegal immigration.
