The Spanish Council of Ministers has given the green-light to an Order (ISM/164/2026) that formally establishes the Electronic Register of Immigration Collaborators. From 6 March the register allows accredited trade unions and non-profit organisations to submit immigration paperwork – including residence and work-permit applications, renewals and family-reunification files – on behalf of third-country nationals.
![Spain creates new registry so unions and NGOs can file residency applications for migrants]()
If your organisation or employees need help navigating these new Spanish immigration procedures, VisaHQ’s online platform can simplify the process by providing step-by-step guidance, real-time tracking and digital document management. Visit https://www.visahq.com/spain/ to see how our Spain-focused services assist HR teams, mobility managers and individual applicants with visas, residence permits and related compliance tasks.
Until now, migrants who did not have the resources to hire a lawyer or gestor had to file personally at often-overloaded immigration offices. By outsourcing the data-entry and document-upload tasks to specialist NGOs and workers’ organisations, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration hopes to relieve queues, speed up decisions and bring legal certainty to an unprecedented regularisation drive that could benefit more than 500,000 undocumented people over the next 18 months. Entities that want to act as ‘collaborators’ must prove at least two years’ experience assisting migrants, be up-to-date with tax and social-security obligations and have no sanctions for immigration, labour-law or data-protection offences in the previous three years. Registration is free, valid for four years and renewable. Importantly, collaborators are banned from charging migrants for the service, a safeguard the government says will prevent exploitation. For employers, mobility managers and relocation providers, the new system could translate into faster onboarding of critical talent who are currently in irregular status but already integrated in the labour market. HR teams should identify reputable NGOs that are likely to obtain ‘collaborator’ status and be ready to coordinate documentation flows electronically. Companies that rely on seasonal or agricultural labour – many of whom still lack papers – may find it easier to regularise their workforce ahead of the 2026 tourism and harvest peaks. The measure also dovetails with Spain’s broader digitalisation of immigration procedures and brings the country closer to the EU-wide goal of paper-less border management before the Entry/Exit System (EES) goes live in 2026. Observers note, however, that success will depend on whether regional immigration offices receive the extra staff and IT capacity promised by Madrid.
If your organisation or employees need help navigating these new Spanish immigration procedures, VisaHQ’s online platform can simplify the process by providing step-by-step guidance, real-time tracking and digital document management. Visit https://www.visahq.com/spain/ to see how our Spain-focused services assist HR teams, mobility managers and individual applicants with visas, residence permits and related compliance tasks.
Until now, migrants who did not have the resources to hire a lawyer or gestor had to file personally at often-overloaded immigration offices. By outsourcing the data-entry and document-upload tasks to specialist NGOs and workers’ organisations, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration hopes to relieve queues, speed up decisions and bring legal certainty to an unprecedented regularisation drive that could benefit more than 500,000 undocumented people over the next 18 months. Entities that want to act as ‘collaborators’ must prove at least two years’ experience assisting migrants, be up-to-date with tax and social-security obligations and have no sanctions for immigration, labour-law or data-protection offences in the previous three years. Registration is free, valid for four years and renewable. Importantly, collaborators are banned from charging migrants for the service, a safeguard the government says will prevent exploitation. For employers, mobility managers and relocation providers, the new system could translate into faster onboarding of critical talent who are currently in irregular status but already integrated in the labour market. HR teams should identify reputable NGOs that are likely to obtain ‘collaborator’ status and be ready to coordinate documentation flows electronically. Companies that rely on seasonal or agricultural labour – many of whom still lack papers – may find it easier to regularise their workforce ahead of the 2026 tourism and harvest peaks. The measure also dovetails with Spain’s broader digitalisation of immigration procedures and brings the country closer to the EU-wide goal of paper-less border management before the Entry/Exit System (EES) goes live in 2026. Observers note, however, that success will depend on whether regional immigration offices receive the extra staff and IT capacity promised by Madrid.
