Spain's extraordinary migrant regularization draws over 1 million applications

The Spanish government has opened an extraordinary regularization process for undocumented migrants, enacted by royal decree after a popular legislative initiative with 700,000 signatures failed to secure parliamentary approval. More than one million applications have been submitted and over half a million provisional permits have been granted, doubling the original government forecast of 500,000.

Secretary of State for Migration Pilar Cancela emphasized that the measure does not relax legal requirements, saying "Que sea una regularización extraordinaria no implica que se hayan relajado los requisitos". She also noted that the procedure is centrally managed by the Ministry to speed up processing, rather than the police. The regularization differs from previous ones by not tying permits to employment.

The Supreme Court has referred a question to the European Court of Justice, and the government has filed its arguments. Cancela warned that the judicial review involves "Ni siquiera parte de las comunidades autónomas, sino de los magistrados del Supremo". The outcome will determine the final scope of the regularization and its compliance with EU migration standards.