Spain’s largest elder-care employers’ association, the Federación Empresarial de la Dependencia (FED), announced on 20 February that it can absorb up to 160,000 of the workers expected to receive legal status under the government’s forthcoming extraordinary regularisation. The sector faces chronic staff shortages as Spain’s population ages—nearly 20 % of residents are already over 65—and unfilled vacancies are forcing facilities to limit admissions or cut services.
FED president Ignacio Fernández-Cid said the regularisation represents a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to convert informal, low-paid care work into regulated employment with social-security contributions. The federation is lobbying for fast-track skills accreditation and publicly funded training so that newly-documented migrants can be deployed within months.
The Ministry of Social Rights welcomed the initiative, calling it a “positive spill-over” of the regularisation plan. Labour unions, however, urged caution, insisting that better wages and working conditions are essential to retain staff and that training standards must not be diluted.
![Spanish care-home federation offers 160,000 jobs to migrants slated for regularisation]()
For multinational relocation programmes, the announcement is noteworthy: executives moving dependants to Spain often struggle to find licensed in-home carers. A larger, formalised workforce could ease that bottleneck and stabilise service costs in major expat hubs like Madrid, Barcelona and the Costa del Sol.
Whether you are an employer hiring newly regularised carers or an expatriate family arranging support for elderly relatives, VisaHQ can streamline the visa and residency paperwork. Its Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers clear application checklists, digital tracking and expert assistance, making it easier to stay compliant with Spain’s evolving immigration rules while focusing on care arrangements.
Next steps include pilot training schemes in Andalusia and Catalonia, funded partly through EU Social Fund monies earmarked for up-skilling health-and-care workers. Companies in the sector are already mapping language needs and plan to partner with NGOs to deliver Spanish (and in some regions Catalan) courses alongside elder-care certifications.
FED president Ignacio Fernández-Cid said the regularisation represents a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to convert informal, low-paid care work into regulated employment with social-security contributions. The federation is lobbying for fast-track skills accreditation and publicly funded training so that newly-documented migrants can be deployed within months.
The Ministry of Social Rights welcomed the initiative, calling it a “positive spill-over” of the regularisation plan. Labour unions, however, urged caution, insisting that better wages and working conditions are essential to retain staff and that training standards must not be diluted.
For multinational relocation programmes, the announcement is noteworthy: executives moving dependants to Spain often struggle to find licensed in-home carers. A larger, formalised workforce could ease that bottleneck and stabilise service costs in major expat hubs like Madrid, Barcelona and the Costa del Sol.
Whether you are an employer hiring newly regularised carers or an expatriate family arranging support for elderly relatives, VisaHQ can streamline the visa and residency paperwork. Its Spain portal (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers clear application checklists, digital tracking and expert assistance, making it easier to stay compliant with Spain’s evolving immigration rules while focusing on care arrangements.
Next steps include pilot training schemes in Andalusia and Catalonia, funded partly through EU Social Fund monies earmarked for up-skilling health-and-care workers. Companies in the sector are already mapping language needs and plan to partner with NGOs to deliver Spanish (and in some regions Catalan) courses alongside elder-care certifications.
