Members of Regularización YA celebrate the announcement of Spain’s regularization program, which could grant legal residence and work permits to around 500,000 migrants. Photo courtesy Regularización YA.

On a warm and sunny February morning in Alicante, dozens of people crowded outside the Algerian consulate next to the city’s central market. Almost entirely men, mostly young or middle-aged, they rummaged through documents and passports, speaking Arabic to one another in low voices. The spectacle on the street couldn’t have gone unnoticed. Small crowds of migrants have become a common sight in cities across Spain since Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s recent announcement that the government would soon begin the process of regularizing undocumented migrant workers currently living there.

On January 27, 2026, Sánchez, who leads the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), announced that migrants living in Spain without documentation would be eligible for regularization—the process by which non-nationals living irregularly in a country are granted legal status—if they have been there for at least five consecutive months prior to December 31, 2025, or have applied for asylum before that date. Applicants must prove they have no criminal record in their home country at the time of application. If approved, they will be granted a one-year legal residence permit with work authorization, which can later be modified or extended.

Children of applicants who have been living in Spain for five consecutive months prior to December 31 will be approved and receive a five-year residence permit. Approximately 500,000 people currently living and working in Spain are expected to benefit from this plan. The application process will run from early April to June 30 of this year.

Progressive members of the coalition government have expressed full support for the program. Spanish Migration Minister Elma Saiz told a news conference that regularized people would be able to work in any sector, anywhere in Spain, and that these changes would bring recognition and dignity to those living there. Sánchez has also pointed out that a low birthrate and an ageing population are putting pressure on the pension and social security systems, highlighting the need for more workers to contribute.

“Throughout history, migration has been one of the great drivers of the development of nations, while hatred and xenophobia have been—and continue to be—the greatest destroyers of nations. The key is to managing it well,” the prime minister said.

Irene Montero, the former minister of equality and a prominent member of Podemos, the far-left party in coalition with the PSOE, has long championed the regularization of migrants and echoed Sánchez’s call for a humane response to migration. “Providing rights is the answer to racism,” Montero said.

Grassroots organizing and royal decree

Yet it was not Sánchez and the PSOE or Podemos that drove the most recent move to regularize migrants—it was a grassroots group of active citizens. Following the pandemic, a socialist collective, Iniciativa Legislativa Popular (ILP), now known as Regularización YA (Regularization Now), began a petition campaign aimed at normalizing the situation of thousands of undocumented migrants living and working in Spain.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of migrants arrived in the country. A conservative think-tank, Funcas, has stated that the number of undocumented migrants in Spain increased eightfold between 2017 and 2025, from 107,409 to 837,938. The majority are believed to be from Colombia, Peru, and Honduras. The scale of migration has been undeniable—thousands of people struggling without homes or jobs—and organizations like Regularización YA have pressured the government to take action.

Collecting more than 600,000 signatures, the organization’s petition forced a vote in congress in 2024 to consider the proposed law. A total of 310 voted in favour, including the conservative opposition Partido Popular (PP), which backed the petition under pressure from the Catholic Church, while only 33 voted against.

Despite this overwhelming support, the decision was blocked for months due to a lack of consensus. Ultimately, under pressure from Podemos and the broader citizen movement, Saiz announced that the regularization program will be processed by royal decree.

There is a precedent for mass regularization programs in Spain. The first three regularization programs, launched in 1986, 1991–92, and 1996, granted documentation to 174,000 people over a decade, all under the PSOE government of Prime Minister Felipe González. Later, in 2000 and 2001, 503,000 people had their status legalized in just two years—remarkably, under the conservative leadership of Prime Minister José María Aznar of the PP.

The most recent program, in 2005, was also issued by royal decree. In a short period, the “proceso de normalización” saw 576,506 people receive documentation to work legally in Spain. Administered by Prime Minister José Rodriguez Zapatero of the PSOE, it required an initial residence permit and a job offer. It was the most successful regularization period in Spain’s history, until now.

In 2026, for the first time in 20 years, the PSOE-led government will undertake the country’s seventh mass regularization program. In less than three months, Spain will likely see the largest number of migrants receive work documentation in its history.

Improving the lives of migrants

Documentation undeniably improves the lives of migrants. With the ability to work in standardized sectors of society, workers across multiple industries are better protected by the labour laws and regulations enjoyed by others.

One of the largest groups of migrants in the country works in domestic services, including cleaning and child care. Most undocumented domestic workers are single mothers from Latin America. They often live in private homes, helping Spanish families with the daily work of running a household. Reports from live-in domestic workers suggest they are often expected to provide full-time care for the elderly, leaving them with little to no free time—almost as prisoners in the home.

Domestic workers notoriously have few employment protections. In an attempt to address this, Spain passed a Royal Decree-Law in 2022 recognizing the right of domestic workers to receive unemployment benefits, though the law excludes undocumented people. Live-in workers have long been vulnerable to exploitation, with employers taking advantage of the shadow economy and overstepping their bounds. Regularization changes that: workers gain access to unemployment benefits, and many can transition to companies with better wages and stronger protections, making their jobs safer and more secure.

Beyond domestic labour, agricultural workers form another essential part of the workforce. In the province of Almeria, in the southeast region of Andalucía—the country’s largest producer of olive oil, fruits, and vegetables—there is widespread fear of expulsion among agricultural labourers. The region relies heavily on undocumented workers to harvest valuable exports for domestic and global consumption.

Juan Miralles Ortega is the president of CONVIVE Fundación Cepaim, an Andalucía-based organization dedicated to advancing the human rights of vulnerable people, especially migrants. Mamadou, a young agricultural labourer from Mali currently living in El Ejido in Almeria, told Ortega that without the constant fear of expulsion, Mamadou could finally start building a life in Spain. One of his first goals is to open a bank account, something impossible without a work contract and a nómina, the official document detailing wages and deductions. Regularization will not only relieve the stress of potential deportation but also provide Mamadou and other agricultural workers in the south with the legal documentation they need to truly establish themselves in the country.

March in Barcelona against racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, July 2025. Photo courtesy Regularización YA/X.

Opposition and misinformation

Regularization has, predictably, provoked fierce backlash from the right. Despite the program’s clear benefits, the announcement was quickly met with a wave of sensationalist, misleading claims pushed by opposition figures and amplified by social media influencers. Known as bulos, this disinformation has spread rapidly, distorting public debate from the outset. Right-wing influencers have claimed that the regularization of migrants will overburden public services and influence upcoming elections to benefit the PSOE. In reality, regularization does not grant applicants citizenship, and therefore they cannot vote.

In Spain, citizenship—and the right to vote—typically requires ten years of residence. While some applicants from Andorra, Portugal, Latin America, the Philippines, and Equatorial Guinea can apply after two years, the earliest they could become citizens is 2028. Yet far-right influencers and national conservative parties like Vox and the PP continue to claim that Sánchez is trying to manipulate the 2027 election, a charge that collapses under even the most basic reading of Spanish law.

Alberto Nuñez, a populist leader of the extremist right-wing group Se Acabó la Fiesta (The Party’s Finished), went so far as to call the regularization efforts an “unconstitutional coup d’état,” urging street protests and an appeal to the Constitutional Court. Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, leader of the PP, claimed the program would bring more people into the country illegally and “overwhelm our public services,” while Vox chief Santiago Abascal repeatedly warned that it would facilitate an invasion of foreigners and replace Spaniards.

Yet Sánchez remains steadfast and unapologetic, as the facts cut through the bulos of the right. The announcement comes at a moment of growing global hostility toward migrants. Amid mass deportations in the United States and electoral gains by right-wing parties across Europe, Spain stands out as a rare exception by choosing integration over deterrence. As draconian anti-immigration policies spread across countries like Denmark, Germany, and Austria, Spain’s efforts to include undocumented migrants, despite persistent nationalist opposition at home, have drawn widespread praise.

Spain offers a progressive path forward amid a rising tide of regressive, anti-immigration policies. This “Spanish exception”—driven by a socialist government and sustained by an organized, engaged civil society—presents a credible alternative for countries grappling with similar pressures and responsibilities. Despite the steadfast stance of the PSOE and Podemos, mass regularization will not be without challenges. Sánchez must still navigate the constraints of the European Union, where immigration policy remains closely tied to membership obligations.

For applicants, the process itself presents significant hurdles. Securing criminal record checks from home countries—many facing political instability or administrative disruption—can be slow, complex, and, at times, prohibitive.

The crowds of Algerians outside their consulate in Alicante are echoed by Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and Latin Americans gathering at embassies in Barcelona, Madrid, and beyond—a visible reminder that bold policy shifts demand equally arduous effort from those they are meant to help.

Immigration, regularization, and documentation are rarely straightforward. Yet for many, the opportunity to move out of the shadows and into legal recognition makes the difficulty worthwhile.

Kimberly Wilson is a member of Canadian Dimension’s coordinating committee. Kimberly is currently studying Spanish as an additional language in Barcelona, Spain, and works as a freelance editor and writer. She holds a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies from Trent University.

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