Hundreds of thousands of foreigners residing illegally in Spain will be able to obtain legal status. The measure will mainly affect economic immigrants from Latin America and Africa. Is it an opportunity or rather a threat?
On January 27, the Spanish government approved the so-called "emergency decree law", which allows foreigners residing illegally in the country to obtain a residence permit with the right to work. The authorities believe that up to half a million people will be able to take advantage of this opportunity. Independent sources even speak of one million illegal immigrants.
The measure will affect people who have resided in Spain for at least 5 months by December 31, 2025. They can apply for legalization until June 30, 2026. The parliamentary opposition opposes such mass legalization, arguing that it could complicate the country's already serious social problems.
Mass legalization is also an opportunity for Russians
The new measure mainly affects people from Latin America and Africa, who predominate among illegal immigrants in Spain, Madrid lawyer Angela Garcia, a specialist in migration issues, told DW. According to her, these are "economic migrants", i.e. people who seek to improve their financial situation outside their homeland. However, "persons seeking asylum in Spain for political or other reasons" will also be able to benefit from the decree, the lawyer claims.
The problem is that the process of granting political asylum in the country is extremely slow. For example, out of almost 168,000 applicants in 2024, only about 6,000 people received protection. The rest, including many Russians who left their homeland for political reasons, are still waiting for a decision or have been refused. And the current measure will allow both to legalize "quickly and without problems."
Legalization without bureaucratic obstacles
The authorities promise that all applications will be processed within three months, and applicants for legalization will be granted the right to work within 15 days after submitting the documents, notes Angela Garcia. A five-month stay in Spain can be proven, for example, by presenting a receipt for a pizza purchase or a used metro ticket. Minor children of illegal immigrants who are in the country will also be granted the right to reside. The application can be submitted at the offices opened for this purpose, or online.
The residence and work permit will be issued for one year with the possibility of extension. Children will be issued with documents valid for 5 years. Until now, to legalize residence, the law required a stay of at least 2 years, presentation of an employment contract, medical insurance, a criminal record certificate in the home country, as well as a certificate of adequate behavior from the place where the applicant lives in Spain. Now all these requirements are canceled, summarizes lawyer Angela Garcia.
A surprising move for everyone
For José María Fernández, professor of political science at the University of Madrid, the decree-law comes as a complete surprise. He recalls that the previous migration regulation only came into force on January 1 of this year. And since the new law was issued as an emergency decree, it is not subject to approval by parliament, where it has many opponents, as has become known in recent days, he adds.
It is also known that the decree was adopted by the socialist government "under pressure" from the far-left party "Podemos" and its allies from the "Sumar" group. They provide the government with a majority in parliament and therefore "have the opportunity to sometimes push their own ideas", the political scientist points out. In this case, the argument is that Spain is supposedly obliged to follow an "open borders policy" with regard to migration.
What concerns are there?
What the mass legalization of foreigners in Spain could lead to is being discussed in parliament, in the media and in society. The fact is that this opens up access for foreigners to the free healthcare system, "which is already on the verge of collapse", as well as to the "perpetually underfunded social funds" for the unemployed and large families, Professor Fernandez points out.
In addition, according to him, those who are legalized will be able to bring their relatives to Spain within a year. This will exacerbate the already severe housing crisis in the country and contribute to the formation of migrant ghettos, which "due to being overcrowded, are at risk of ethnic and racial clashes". It is also no secret that the easy acquisition of legal status in a European country "could attract hundreds of thousands of new illegal migrants to Spain". And the authorities' claims that legalized people are needed by the Spanish economy are questionable, since "the majority of them do not have professional qualifications", the political scientist from the University of Madrid also notes.
The opposition strongly criticizes the decision
The government's actions are encountering strong resistance from the liberal-conservative opposition in Spain. According to her, the current legalization "is illegal, as it was adopted hastily and without apparent reason, bypassing parliament". In addition, the opposition cites police concerns that legalization without any verification "opens the door to residence in the country for people with criminal records and criminal intentions - regardless of whether they are jihadists or criminals".
The Liberal People's Party has promised to take the issue to the European People's Party (EPP), as this is not only a violation of the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration, but is also of importance to all citizens of the Community, as legalized foreigners will be able to move freely within EU countries.
Another opposition party, the far-right Vox, has already referred the matter to the Spanish Supreme Court. The reasons stated that this government measure "contradicts Spanish and European legislation and represents a real threat to the national interests of the Spanish".