Barcelona’s city council has moved quickly to turn Spain’s new royal-decree amnesty for undocumented migrants into practical reality. At a plenary session on 30 January, the council approved the creation of a joint working group with the central government’s immigration delegation that will begin operating next Monday. The ad-hoc task-force will assemble municipal civil servants, National Police adjudicators and third-sector NGOs in a single hub so that applicants can file paperwork, register on the local padron (census) and obtain social-security numbers in one visit.(lavanguardia.com)
Deputy-mayor Jordi Valls told councillors that at least 24,000 foreign nationals resident in the Catalan capital are expected to meet the decree’s cut-off date of 31 December 2025 and the five-month physical-presence rule. By concentrating services, the city hopes to avoid the bottlenecks that plagued the 2005 amnesty, when some applicants queued for days only to be turned away for missing documents. The city has earmarked €3 million to hire 120 temporary case-workers and extend office hours to evenings and Saturdays.
Companies and private applicants looking for extra support as they gather the required paperwork may find it useful to consult VisaHQ, an online visa-processing platform that provides clear checklists, document-review services and appointment tracking for Spanish immigration matters; see https://www.visahq.com/spain/ for details.
![Barcelona creates fast-track taskforce to process extraordinary immigration regularisation]()
Beyond humanitarian arguments, Barcelona’s business community is keen to see the regularisation move swiftly. Hospitality groups estimate that 7–10 % of their kitchen and housekeeping staff currently lack papers; legal status will allow employers to put those workers on formal contracts, pay social-security contributions and comply with posted-worker rules when seconding staff to trade-fair events such as the Mobile World Congress.
Corporate-relocation managers should note two operational advantages. First, once an application is *admitido a trámite*, the foreign national automatically receives an authorisation to work in any sector and region, a flexibility that contrasts with normal sector-specific permits. Second, the decree allows simultaneous five-year residence cards for minor children, simplifying family moves.
Immigration lawyers nonetheless warn that demand could still outstrip capacity in the first weeks. Employers are being advised to help assignees gather proof of residence—utility bills, rental contracts or municipal medical cards—before appointments open to demonstrate the requisite five-month stay.
Deputy-mayor Jordi Valls told councillors that at least 24,000 foreign nationals resident in the Catalan capital are expected to meet the decree’s cut-off date of 31 December 2025 and the five-month physical-presence rule. By concentrating services, the city hopes to avoid the bottlenecks that plagued the 2005 amnesty, when some applicants queued for days only to be turned away for missing documents. The city has earmarked €3 million to hire 120 temporary case-workers and extend office hours to evenings and Saturdays.
Companies and private applicants looking for extra support as they gather the required paperwork may find it useful to consult VisaHQ, an online visa-processing platform that provides clear checklists, document-review services and appointment tracking for Spanish immigration matters; see https://www.visahq.com/spain/ for details.
Beyond humanitarian arguments, Barcelona’s business community is keen to see the regularisation move swiftly. Hospitality groups estimate that 7–10 % of their kitchen and housekeeping staff currently lack papers; legal status will allow employers to put those workers on formal contracts, pay social-security contributions and comply with posted-worker rules when seconding staff to trade-fair events such as the Mobile World Congress.
Corporate-relocation managers should note two operational advantages. First, once an application is *admitido a trámite*, the foreign national automatically receives an authorisation to work in any sector and region, a flexibility that contrasts with normal sector-specific permits. Second, the decree allows simultaneous five-year residence cards for minor children, simplifying family moves.
Immigration lawyers nonetheless warn that demand could still outstrip capacity in the first weeks. Employers are being advised to help assignees gather proof of residence—utility bills, rental contracts or municipal medical cards—before appointments open to demonstrate the requisite five-month stay.
