politics
Spain Receives Over 1 Million Applications in Migrant Regularization Process
The exceptional process launched in April ended June 30 with twice the expected submissions. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the total and defended the policy on economic grounds.
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Spain received more than 1,000,000 applications in an exceptional migrant regularization process that ran from April through June 30, 2026, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on the final day. The total was twice the number the government had initially estimated. Authorities now have three months to review the filings and decide on residence and work permits that would be valid only in Spain.
Sanchez described the effort as a key step in bringing out of invisibility a reality that exists in our country, that of hundreds of thousands of people living among us. He said Spain's migration policy is legal, safe and orderly and necessary to support the needs of the Spanish economy. The OECD raised its 2026 growth forecast for Spain to 2.2 percent in early June.
Sanchez added that without immigration Spain would lose 19 percent of its GDP by 2050 and 22 percent by 2075. Le Monde reported that the country has conducted six previous extraordinary regularizations, in 1986, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2005. Three were decided by conservative governments.
The 2005 program, launched by Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, granted legal status to just over 576,000 undocumented migrants.
