Spain is on the verge of launching the largest regularisation of foreign nationals since 2005. Minister Félix Bolaños confirmed on 13 April that the Council of Ministers will vote on 14 April on an extraordinary process that could grant residence and work permits to an estimated half-million people who are already in the country without status.
The reform revives a citizen-led bill supported by more than 700,000 signatures and accelerates a decree first announced in January. According to the draft seen by Europa Press, two broad groups will qualify. First are asylum-seekers who lodged applications before 31 December 2025, regardless of whether their claim was approved. Second are economic migrants who can show they have lived continuously in Spain since at least 31 July 2025. Applicants must have a clean criminal record and pose no threat to public order. Family members, including minor children already in Spain, can be included in the same file. The new residence authorisation will be valid for one year, immediately confer the right to work anywhere in Spain and can be converted into standard permits under the existing Immigration Regulations after that first year.
![Spanish Government Poised to Approve Mass Regularisation for 500,000 Migrants]()
For individuals and HR departments trying to navigate the upcoming regularisation, VisaHQ’s Spain desk (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) can streamline the paperwork. The platform offers guided checklists, document translation, appointment scheduling, and real-time tracking so applicants and employers can reduce errors and keep timelines on track.
Officials pledge that files will be accepted within 15 days and resolved within three months; once an application is admitted, the migrant will be allowed to work while the file is pending. For employers struggling with labour shortages—especially in hospitality, agriculture and elder-care—the programme offers a legal avenue to hire workers who are already integrated and often fluent in Spanish. It also aligns Spain with several EU peers (Italy 2020, Portugal 2021) that used humanitarian regularisations to close labour gaps after the pandemic. Corporate mobility teams should review their shadow-payroll exposure and start building onboarding pipelines, because workers who regularise on, say, 1 May could be available for formal employment contracts by early summer.
The political stakes are high. Pro-migration NGOs hail the plan as historic, while opposition party Vox calls it an incentive for irregular arrivals. HR leaders should therefore watch the regulatory text for last-minute amendments, especially around background-check thresholds and sectoral quotas that could narrow eligibility.
The reform revives a citizen-led bill supported by more than 700,000 signatures and accelerates a decree first announced in January. According to the draft seen by Europa Press, two broad groups will qualify. First are asylum-seekers who lodged applications before 31 December 2025, regardless of whether their claim was approved. Second are economic migrants who can show they have lived continuously in Spain since at least 31 July 2025. Applicants must have a clean criminal record and pose no threat to public order. Family members, including minor children already in Spain, can be included in the same file. The new residence authorisation will be valid for one year, immediately confer the right to work anywhere in Spain and can be converted into standard permits under the existing Immigration Regulations after that first year.
For individuals and HR departments trying to navigate the upcoming regularisation, VisaHQ’s Spain desk (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) can streamline the paperwork. The platform offers guided checklists, document translation, appointment scheduling, and real-time tracking so applicants and employers can reduce errors and keep timelines on track.
Officials pledge that files will be accepted within 15 days and resolved within three months; once an application is admitted, the migrant will be allowed to work while the file is pending. For employers struggling with labour shortages—especially in hospitality, agriculture and elder-care—the programme offers a legal avenue to hire workers who are already integrated and often fluent in Spanish. It also aligns Spain with several EU peers (Italy 2020, Portugal 2021) that used humanitarian regularisations to close labour gaps after the pandemic. Corporate mobility teams should review their shadow-payroll exposure and start building onboarding pipelines, because workers who regularise on, say, 1 May could be available for formal employment contracts by early summer.
The political stakes are high. Pro-migration NGOs hail the plan as historic, while opposition party Vox calls it an incentive for irregular arrivals. HR leaders should therefore watch the regulatory text for last-minute amendments, especially around background-check thresholds and sectoral quotas that could narrow eligibility.
