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This month, Spain is set to launch a mass regularization program for migrants that could give legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented people living in the country. The scheme could become one of the most ambitious ever implemented in Europe. It puts Madrid at odds with much of the continent, which is instead tightening immigration rules.

Spain has one of the largest migrant populations in Europe as a share of the total, with roughly 10 million foreign-born residents out of around 50 million inhabitants. Some of the largest documented communities come from Colombia, Morocco, and Venezuela. Although irregular arrivals from Africa have significantly dropped since their 2018 peak, think tank Funcas estimates that the number of undocumented people living in Spain is on the rise, approaching 840,000 last year, with the largest groups being from Colombia, Honduras, and Peru.

This month, Spain is set to launch a mass regularization program for migrants that could give legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented people living in the country. The scheme could become one of the most ambitious ever implemented in Europe. It puts Madrid at odds with much of the continent, which is instead tightening immigration rules.

Spain has one of the largest migrant populations in Europe as a share of the total, with roughly 10 million foreign-born residents out of around 50 million inhabitants. Some of the largest documented communities come from Colombia, Morocco, and Venezuela. Although irregular arrivals from Africa have significantly dropped since their 2018 peak, think tank Funcas estimates that the number of undocumented people living in Spain is on the rise, approaching 840,000 last year, with the largest groups being from Colombia, Honduras, and Peru.

The Spanish government is hammering out details of the plan and could present the final version as early as this week, El País reported. According to the latest draft of the policy, undocumented migrants will have until the end of June to apply for a one-year residence and work permit. The one-off program targets both economic migrants and asylum-seekers with pending requests. To be eligible, applicants must have no criminal records and be able to prove that they have been in Spain for at least five months.

The government expects to receive some 750,000 requests and says that about 500,000 people will meet the eligibility criteria. A leaked report from the Spanish police’s National Center for Immigration and Borders suggests that as many as 1.1 million people could........

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