Spain’s socialist government on Tuesday officially started the process to grant mass amnesty to half a million illegal migrants living in Spain.
After nearly three months since Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez first announced the amnesty plans, the Spanish Council of Ministers signed the decree. It was officially published at the Official State Gazette on Wednesday, and will go into effect on Thursday.
Just as Sánchez initially vowed, the mass amnesty plan was signed via a Royal Decree, which allows the socialist government to bypass the need from parliamentary approval despite an absolute majority of the Spanish parliament and nearly 70 percent of Spaniards being against the amnesty.
Spain’s Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration Ministry explained that the application period will begin on Thursday, April 16, at which point hundreds of thousands of prospective beneficiaries may submit their applications online, with in-person services opening on Monday, April 20. The application window will close on June 30.
To receive amnesty, the Spanish government only requires that the illegal migrants comply with a small list of lax requirements — proof that they were in the country prior to January 1, 2026, and that they have resided in Spain continuously for at least five months prior to the date of application. Additionally, they must show that they have “no criminal record and do not pose a threat to public order, public safety, or public health.”
The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reports that, according to sources from the Ministry, Spain will not expel illegal migrants who fail to submit the required documentation after having started an amnesty application.
“Today is a great day. Today, Spain — which is already a great country — becomes an even better country that recognizes rights rather than curtailing them,” Inclusion Minister Elma Saiz said.
Saiz stated that the process is “intended to safeguard the rights of migrants and provide legal certainty to the system.” According to the Minister, the mass amnesty process will be “streamlined, efficient, and hassle-free, and will accommodate everyone who meets the requirements.”
Beneficiaries will receive full work authorization valid all throughout Spain and will be assigned a personal Social Security number. One month after receiving amnesty, the migrant must then submit an application to receive his or her Foreign ID Card. Minors will receive a five-year residence permit, and members of the same household can be processed simultaneously.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, currently courting the Chinese communist regime through a new official visit, claimed through social media that granting mass amnesty to half a million illegal migrants is an “act of justice and a necessity.”
“Today, once again, I feel proud to be Spanish,” he wrote.
Per the public broadcaster RTVE, Sánchez said from Beijing that emphasized from Beijing that the amnesty process the “support of a wide range of sectors.”
“It is a process driven by the Catholic Church and by employers because we need a workforce to continue growing,” he said and added that the amnesty not only does justice to migrants, but “is good for Spain, for the pensions of today’s retirees, and for you when you retire.”
Last week, European Commissioner for Asylum and Migration Magnus Brunner reportedly warned through an internal EU parliament document hat Spain’s mass amnesty plans may have “consequences’ for the European Union.
According to information from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics (INE), 20 percent of all people presently living in Spain were born in another country, with about ten million foreign-born now residing in the country.
Reuters reports that immigration offices across Spain have threatened to strike next week to protest against Sánchez’s mass amnesty plan, stressing that the nation’s systems are unprepared to handle 500,000 applications.
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