Spain's mass migrant regularisation deadline sees over a million applications

Spain’s special mass regularisation scheme, launched on 16 April, requires undocumented migrants who have lived in the country since before 31 December 2025 to apply for a one‑year residence and work permit. The government had expected about 500,000 applications, but by the final deadline of 30 June the number of submissions reached between 1.2 million and 1.3 million, far exceeding forecasts.

Non‑governmental organisations such as CEAR and Cepaim intensified outreach in the last hours, urging migrants to submit even if they were still waiting for documents from countries like Mali, Iran or Venezuela. “We’re carrying out a final check of all the people who have come to our offices and who may have been missing some documentation at the start of the process,” said Elena Muñoz, CEAR’s legal coordinator. NGOs warned that at least 20 % of the applications could be rejected because of missing paperwork and limited administrative flexibility.

The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration has said it will not extend the deadline, despite pressure from parties such as Podemos, Sumar, EH Bildu, ERC and BNG, who argue the 30 June cutoff is “arbitrary”. The government describes the process as a “success of the country”, citing its potential to bring up to half a million migrants into the formal labour market, where roughly 840,000 workers are currently undocumented. Data from the Fundación Ciudadanía Global show that about 70 % of applicants are from Latin America, more than 60 % are under 36 years old, and 34 % have resided in Spain for less than one year.