Spain throws open its doors to undocumented migrants

Huge queues have been forming in Spanish cities after the government approved plans to give legal status to 500,000 migrants.

As of Monday, the migrant regularisation process is underway with individuals waiting hours at more than 400 locations across the country for appointments after submitting online applications. 

The applications opened last Thursday after Spain’s socialist government rubber-stamped the initiative at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Thousands have been pictured lining up outside registry offices and makeshift regularisation centres in regions such as Catalunya, Andalucia and Asturias.

In a desperate rush to finalise their paperwork, some migrants have been waiting in line for hours or staying overnight to get their documents officially stamped. 

One Columbian migrant waiting outside a shopping mall in Barcelona told local outlet El Periodico that he arrived ‘around 10 or 11pm last night so we wouldn’t be left out; we’ve been here for about 15 hours’.

Another migrant from Honduras told the outlet that he slept on the floor as he waited in line, adding: ‘A very large group of people almost trampled me… We risked our lives, but it will be worth it.’

Meanwhile in Seville, a long line of migrants has overwhelmed the City Hall’s general registry, according to local media.

There are so many people queuing that the city council is considering closing the Prado offices early, Diario de Sevilla reports.

Last week, thousands of migrants descended on consulates across Spain to collect the necessary documentation to gain legal entry.

Applicants were obtaining the required consular documentation to prove a clean criminal record in their country of origin. 

This is a vital step in meeting the regularisation criteria, which also includes verifying at least five months of residency in Spain before the end of last year.

Immigration offices across the country this week had threatened to strike this week in protest at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s mass amnesty program for the undocumented migrants.

The amnesty is a central plank of Sanchez’s progressive agenda to harness the economic benefits of migration for its ageing population, even as other European governments move to tighten their borders.

Immigration officers warned that the system is unprepared for the challenge and threatened a strike from April 21, halting all immigration applications in protest at the lack of resources allocated to the process.

‘The government is once again implementing a new regularization without giving offices enough economic resources to handle it,’ Cesar Perez, a union leader for Spain’s immigration officers, said to Reuters earlier this week.

The strike was ultimately called off, following an agreement between The Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory and the Workers’ Commissions and the Government.

Spain’s 50million-strong population has swelled in recent years to include around 10 million people living in Spain who were born abroad.

There are around 840,000 undocumented migrants in Spain, the majority of whom are from Latin America, according to data from the Funcas think tank. 

The country’s opposition Popular Party has deemed the drive reckless, despite former conservative governments pushing through similar measures.

Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of the community of Madrid and a prominent figure in the party, has threatened to appeal the drive in court.

Sanchez described the drive in a letter addressed to citizens published on Tuesday on X as not only an act of justice but also an economic necessity.

‘Spain is ageing… Without more people working and contributing to the economy, our prosperity slows, and our public services suffer,’ he wrote.

Sanchez argues immigrants are key to Spain’s economy, which expanded 2.8 per cent last year – more than twice the average expected in the entire eurozone.

The country has been outperforming other EU nations in recent years, with unemployment – a longstanding issue in the Spanish economy – dipping below 10 per cent for the first time since 2008.

But with about 90 per cent of new jobs going to immigrants, income per person has barely grown in Spain.

Moreover, each year sees 140,000 new households, but only about 80,000 new homes built.

A lack of affordable housing has become a central grievance among voters, contributing to social tension.

Critics of the new programme argue that without simultaneous housing policy reforms, legalising large numbers of migrants increases competition for scarce accommodation, particularly in urban centres such as Barcelona and Madrid.

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the populist hard-right party Vox, accused the Socialist-led coalition of accelerating what he called an ‘invasion’.

Pepa Millán, spokesman for Vox, said the plan ‘attacks our identity’, pledging that the party would appeal before the Supreme Court in an attempt to block it.