Spain's migrant regularization aids thousands to legal status

The Spanish government launched an extraordinary regularization scheme on 16 April, allowing undocumented foreign workers to obtain residence and work permits. The application window closed on 30 June and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration later reported more than 2 000 requests.

In Ciudad Real, the trade union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) fielded about 400 migrant inquiries and fully processed 151 dossiers at no cost, contributing to a regional total of 800 dossiers, roughly half of which have been approved. Meanwhile, the non‑governmental organisation CEAin in Jerez assisted 2 003 migrants, issuing 1 271 vulnerability certificates and reviewing 1 463 dossiers. The majority of those helped were women (53 %) aged 18‑45, from over 50 nationalities, with more than 60 % originating in Latin America.

Both organisations highlighted the unprecedented scale of the effort, noting that most migrants had never previously accessed assistance and were previously invisible in the informal economy.