More than one million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers have applied for legal status under Spain's special mass regularisation programme, which closed on Tuesday. The final tally of at least 1.27 million applications — with some estimates suggesting the number reached 1.3 million — was more than double the roughly 500,000 applications the government had anticipated, pointing to a far larger undocumented population living in Spain than previously assumed.

The programme, which opened on 15 April, offers eligible applicants a one-year residence and work permit, renewable upon expiry. To qualify, migrants must have arrived in Spain before 31 December 2025, have been residing there for at least five months at the time of application, and hold a clean criminal record — including in their country of origin. The permits are valid only in Spain and do not confer Spanish nationality, voting rights, or entitlement to certain social benefits, though recipients will be required to pay taxes and social contributions. The government has given itself three months to process each application.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who called the response a "great success," has framed the initiative as an economic necessity. He argued that without sustained migration, Spain's GDP could shrink by 19% by 2051, with knock-on effects across key sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, tourism, and construction — all of which face persistent labour shortages in a strong-performing economy. By bringing undocumented workers out of the informal labour market, the government also expects to generate additional tax revenues and social security contributions. The scheme has drawn broad support from employer organisations and the Catholic Church.

However, the programme has also attracted significant criticism. Right-wing and far-right opposition parties, including the Partido Popular and Vox, have warned that the measure will act as a pull factor for further irregular migration. Rights groups, meanwhile, raised concerns about administrative obstacles, with many applicants scrambling in the final hours to gather official documents from countries such as Mali, Iran, and Venezuela — a process that can itself take over a year. NGOs including CEAR and Cepaim urged migrants to submit applications even if supporting documents had not yet arrived.

Spain, one of the main entry points into Europe alongside Italy and Greece, has taken a notably different path from many EU neighbours that have tightened restrictions on irregular migration in recent years. The scale of the response raises pressing questions about outcomes: in a previous regularisation campaign, around 1.6 million applications were submitted but only 1.2 million were approved. Analysts warn that many of those rejected this time are likely to return to undocumented status, and that mass deportation would be logistically and politically unfeasible.