Tarragona leads Spain in per‑capita immigrant regularization applications amid housing crisis

In the latest round of Spain's extraordinary migrant regularisation, 27,214 people in Tarragona applied, placing the province fifth nationwide in per‑capita requests with 31 applications per 1,000 residents. Nationwide, 1.174 million migrants have applied, 81% of them under 45 years old and 43% women. Colombia, Morocco, Venezuela and Peru are the main countries of origin, while in Catalonia Morocco accounts for 18% of applicants. The process has already added 159,097 new affiliates to the Spanish Social Security system.

A Caritas Catalunya report presented in Tarragona highlighted a concurrent housing emergency: 55% of the families the charity supports lack a dignified home, and about half of those assisted are still without legal residency, limiting their access to employment. Caritas worked with 86,128 households, 199,571 individuals, and spent €53 million on social projects. The organization helped roughly 7,500 people with the regularisation paperwork and processed documentation for more than 4,000 applicants. President Salvador Busquets warned that “the poorest are becoming poorer,” while the observatory noted the rise of permanent “re‑rental” arrangements as a legacy of past crises.