Spain’s looming migrant amnesty strains services, sends applicants scrambling

MADRID – Spain’s newest drive to fast-track legal status for at least half a million undocumented migrants has already burdened immigration offices and sparked anxiety among prospective applicants weeks before the process even begins, a dozen union officials, lawyers and migrants said.

A lack of information and state funding for the process could derail the planned mass amnesty announced by the Spanish government in January, said two people involved in the drive, which is the latest instalment of the relatively inclusive migration policy credited with driving Spain’s economic boom in recent years.

The Spanish government has said the drive will run from early April through June, but has provided few details on the application process or documentation required. The Migration Ministry said on its website in January that no additional budget or staffing had been earmarked for the expected surge in applications.

That has unsettled both the migrants aspiring to use the legalisation window, and the frontline workers at immigration offices already overloaded with a months-old backlog.

“Our offices are completely jammed. If there are no more people, if there is no technological reinforcement, without more money, this is impossible,” said Mr Cesar Perez, a union leader for Spain’s immigration officers.

Mr Perez told Reuters most of his colleagues were still working through legal status applications submitted in June 2025.

Spain’s government published a preliminary document on the drive in January. An unpublished draft of the full decree, dated Feb 18 and seen by Reuters, said “a specific, preferential and differentiated procedure” would be developed for the legalisation window but did not provide details.

Spain’s Ministries of Inclusion, Interior and Territorial Policy declined to respond to detailed questions from Reuters. A spokesperson for the Ministry responsible for migration said the final decree was still being developed.

‘Chaos at launch’

As other European countries tighten their borders, Spain’s Socialist government has continued to champion migration, which economists credit for most of the country’s fast-paced economic growth over the last four years.

Previous governments, including those led by conservatives, have offered multiple mass amnesty drives in recent decades. The largest was in 2005, when 570,000 people who could show they had formal work contracts were granted legal status.

There is an incentive for regularisation: Spain needs approximately 2.4 million more people paying into social security over the next decade to sustain its welfare state, according to official estimates.

But disputes with splinter parties have disintegrated the current government’s majority in the Lower House of Parliament. The resulting deadlock has prevented lawmakers from passing a budget since 2023 – and curtailed the government’s ability to execute its new migration vision.

A lack of additional state funds for the 2026 drive would mark a policy departure from previous mass legalisations. In 2005, 1,700 employees were hired, and 742 new information points established to help the existing system cope, according to a study by researcher Claudia Finotelli.

To plug the expected gap for 2026, the government is considering drafting non-governmental organisations (NGO) and trade unions to help process applications, four sources familiar with the matter said.

Another option on the table is extending immigration offices’ opening hours, said Mr Perez, the union leader.

But neither has been formally adopted, leaving administrators doubtful the process will launch on time.

“The government is optimistic, but coordinating everyone will not be easy. We can expect chaos at launch,” said a person involved in the Migration Ministry’s discussions.

Desperate migrants in limbo

Migrants have also been left scrambling.

They are queuing up at immigration offices to request details about the drive that officers are still unable to provide, the police and civil servant unions said.

Spain’s government said migrants who have a clean criminal record, and who have resided in Spain for five continuous months or applied for asylum before the end of 2025, could qualify. But it has not specified what documents will count as proof.

“It’s still not clear what requirements we’ll have to meet. I’m afraid they will ask for something I can’t provide,” said Ms Iris Rocha, a 37-year-old Peruvian mother of two. She spoke to Reuters after attending a talk by a local migration-focused NGO in Barcelona, often the only recourse for migrants desperate for more information.

Mr Rocha, who said she fled Peru with her daughters in 2023 after suffering life-threatening abuse, lost her temporary work permit in 2025 after being denied asylum.

She said she needs legal papers to get hired again.

“I would get my life back. Until then, I have to survive,” Ms Rocha said.

Spain’s Immigration Minister Elma Saiz told reporters in January that applicants could work legally once they are notified their application is being processed, which she said would happen within 15 days of submitting documentation.

Experts are sceptical, pointing to chronic delays in the immigration system. Spanish think-tank Funcas says migrants currently spend an average of two to three years attempting to get legal status, with roughly 840,000 undocumented migrants working off the books as they go through the process.

“People become undocumented not because they don’t want to register, but because they can’t,” said Ms Gabriela Domingo, a lawyer at migration consultancy Legalizados.

Some anxious migrants are already paying intermediaries to secure April appointments at immigration offices, three lawyers said.

The practice is illegal, and the government acknowledged in November 2025 that it was caused by a shortage of appointment slots.

“People are selling appointments even though the start date is only a rumour, which shows the fear this process has instilled in migrants,” said Ms Pilar Rodriguez, a lawyer for migrants advocacy organisation Aculco. REUTERS