Spain's left-wing government on Tuesday approved a fast-track plan to grant legal status to an estimated 500,000 undocumented migrants, the largest such program in Europe in years and a sharp departure from the restrictive immigration policies sweeping much of the continent.

The measure, passed by royal decree without parliamentary approval, will allow undocumented immigrants who can prove they were living in Spain for at least five months before December 31, 2025, to apply for one-year renewable residence permits. They must also demonstrate they have no criminal record.

"This is a historic day for our country," Migration Minister Elma Saiz said at a press conference following Tuesday's cabinet meeting. "We are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, coexistence, and compatible with economic growth and social cohesion."

Applications are expected to open in April and run through the end of June. Successful applicants will be permitted to work in any sector and anywhere in Spain.

How It Came Together

The decree emerged from a last-minute agreement between Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's ruling Socialist party and the far-left Podemos party, which has propped up the minority government since 2023.

Podemos leader Ione Belarra announced the deal on social media Tuesday morning, framing it as a victory for labor rights. "No one else has to work without rights," she wrote.

The measure bypasses a similar bill that had stalled in parliament, where the government lacks a stable majority. By using a royal decree, the cabinet avoided what would likely have been a contentious legislative fight.

The regularization responds in part to a citizens' initiative that gathered more than 700,000 signatures and the support of roughly 900 civil society organizations. That petition had languished in parliament for months.

Spain has conducted nine such regularization programs since its return to democracy, most recently in 2005 under former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. That initiative granted residence permits to approximately 580,000 people.

The Economic Argument

Sánchez and his ministers have consistently framed immigration as an economic necessity, not a burden. The prime minister has said migrants accounted for roughly 80 percent of Spain's economic growth over the past six years and contribute about 10 percent of social security revenues.

Spain has been the fastest-growing large economy in Europe, with GDP forecast to expand 2.2 percent this year compared with 1.2 percent for the eurozone as a whole. Unemployment, a chronic weakness of the Spanish economy, dipped below 10 percent for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, according to figures released Tuesday.

Of the 76,200 jobs added in Spain during the final quarter of 2025, some 52,500—roughly 69 percent—were filled by foreign workers or people with dual nationality.

Foreign workers registered with the social security system, an indicator of formal employment, have risen 45 percent since the pandemic. They now account for 14 percent of Spain's total workforce.

"In the end, telling people that immigration is bad may appeal to them, but deporting the woman who cleans their house is a different story," said Anna Terrón Cusi, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute who previously worked on immigration policy for multiple Spanish governments.

Many of those expected to benefit from the regularization work in agriculture, tourism, and service industries—sectors that have driven much of Spain's recent growth.

The Opposition Response

Conservative and right wing parties condemned the announcement.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the center-right Popular Party, accused Sánchez of using the measure to deflect attention from a deadly train crash on January 18 that killed 45 people. "In socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded," he said. "Sánchez's migration policy is as reckless as his rail policy."

Feijóo called the plan "ludicrous" and warned it would "increase the pull effect and overwhelm our public services."

Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party, went further. "Sánchez the tyrant hates the Spanish people," he wrote on social media. "He wants to replace them—that's why he's using a decree to promote the pull effect and to accelerate the invasion. He must be stopped. Repatriations, deportations, and remigration."

Vox announced it would file a legal challenge with Spain's Supreme Court, seeking precautionary measures to suspend the decree's implementation.

The criticism echoed language used by far-right parties across Europe, where anti-immigration sentiment has fueled electoral gains in Germany, Italy, France, and the Netherlands.

A European Outlier

Spain's move places it squarely at odds with the broader European trend.

Governments across the EU have tightened asylum policies, accelerated deportations, and restricted entry routes under pressure from ascendant far-right parties. The United Kingdom, Denmark, and Germany have all announced crackdowns on irregular migration in recent months. The Trump administration's aggressive enforcement operations in the United States have further shifted the global conversation.

Sánchez has taken the opposite approach. "Faced with the choice between being a closed and poor nation, Spain is opening itself to the world to ensure prosperity," he said earlier this month. "I'll say it clearly. No one is expendable in Spain. On the contrary, we lack people."

Spain currently has about 49.4 million residents, including 7.1 million foreign nationals. The Funcas economic research institute estimated that approximately 840,000 people were living in the country without authorization at the start of 2025. The largest groups are believed to come from Colombia, Peru, and Honduras, though tens of thousands of sub-Saharan Africans have also arrived via the perilous Atlantic crossing to the Canary Islands.

The Spanish Catholic Church praised the decree as "an act of social justice and recognition of so many migrants who, through their work, have long contributed to the development of" the country.

Migrant advocacy groups welcomed the announcement as well. "At a time when a hostile environment against migrants is spreading on both sides of the Atlantic, this move shows both humanity and common sense," said Laetitia Van der Vennet of the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.

Saiz said Spain would remain "a beacon" against the rising tide of anti-immigration politics. "We will do everything in our power to stop it," she said.

Whether the policy survives legal challenges and the court of public opinion remains to be seen. Vox is currently polling at 18 percent, up six points since the 2023 general election, and the party has made opposition to immigration central to its platform.