The government of Spain approved a legal change to promote massive regularization of immigrants in the country and make its immigration regulations more flexible.
According to the forecasts of the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, approximately 900,000 foreigners in an irregular situation will be able to legalize their situation in the country in the next three years thanks to the changes approved in the Immigration Regulation.
Minister Elma Saiz said when presenting the changes that “the objective is reinforce and expand the access routes to the regularization of migrants who are in Spain so that they can lead a full life as citizens.”
The reform, said the minister, “represents a balance between the extension and protection of the rights of migrants and legal rigor and attention to the needs of Spain.”
Below, we present three keys to a reform that places Spain against the current at a time when other governments of developed countries impose increasing restrictions on immigration.
1. Who benefits from the change in the Spanish Immigration Regulations?
According to the government, the approved change seeks to meet the demands of the labor market and Spanish companies as well as the needs of migrants.
The regulation establishes new figures of roots, a formula contemplated in Spanish law by which a foreigner in an irregular situation in Spain can regularize his situation when there are ties with the place where he resides, whether economic, social, family, work or training.
Tens of thousands of foreigners in an irregular situation in Spain will be able to benefit from one of the five new modalities of roots (social, socio-laboral, family, socio-educational and second chance).
According to the calculations of the Spanish government, they will allow 300,000 people to be regularized each year for the next three years.
But the new regulations also include the flexibility and simplification of many immigration procedures, as well as concrete improvements for other groups of migrants.
It makes it easier for foreign students to work in Spain and facilitates residence in the European country for foreigners who have a family member there who has obtained Spanish nationality.
According to the press release released by the Ministry of Inclusion, “The majority of the people who are going to benefit” from the new regulation of family roots “are people who have obtained Spanish nationality and can bring their family.”
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, more than 240,000 foreigners residing in Spain acquired Spanish nationality in 2023 alone.
The relatives of all of them are among the potential beneficiaries of the approved change.
The new regulation also contemplates family reunification in Spain for couples who are not married or de facto couples, but can prove “an analogous emotional relationship.”
This opens the door to non-heterosexual couples who are not allowed to register as such by the laws of their country of origin, which happens even in Latin American countries from which many immigrants living in Spain come, such as Peru.
2. What are the main changes approved
In addition to those mentioned, the new Immigration Regulations establish a wide range of changes.
Among the main ones are:
- The door is opened to the regularization of foreigners who have had a residence permit in Spain, but have lost it.
- There will be no need to leave Spanish territory to process a long-term residence after having had a temporary residence.
- The time spent in Spain required to justify roots is reduced from three to two years.
- The duration of the visa for job search is extended from three months to one year.
- You are allowed to work from the first day without having to request the specific authorization that until now was required.
- Foreigners studying in Spain may also work up to 30 hours per week.
- Foreigners who complete their studies in Spain will be able to quickly apply for a work permit once they complete their training and integrate into the Spanish labor market.
- Spanish nationalized foreigners may request family reunification in Spain with their foreign children up to 26 years of age. Previously the age limit was 21.
3. Why Spain is committed to massive regularization of immigrants
While other European countries and the United States toughen their immigration policy, Spain seems to be moving against the current on this issue.
In the United States, its president-elect, Donald Trump, has promised a “massive deportation” of undocumented immigrants.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is trying to get her country’s courts to give the green light to her plan to send asylum seekers to Albania.
And in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his government might be interested in applying a model similar to Meloni’s.
But the Spanish government shows a different view towards the migration phenomenon.
Its president, Pedro Sánchez, said on a tour that took him to Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal in August that migrants represent “wealth, development and prosperity.”
“The contribution of immigrants to our economy is fundamental, as is the sustainability of our social security and pension system,” Sánchez said.
Although a survey published by the Center for Sociological Research in October showed that immigration was the country’s main problem for those surveyed, and the issue is beginning to be the subject of political controversy, the Spanish government sees it as an opportunity.
In fact, last April the Congress of Deputies admitted to processing a popular legislative initiative that, if approved, would mean even more regularizations of foreigners.
Different organizations have pointed out the impact of immigration on the current good moment of the Spanish economy.
If the forecasts of organizations such as the International Monetary Fund are met, it will be the developed economy that will grow the most in 2024, even ahead of that of the United States, and according to experts the contribution of immigrants is being significant.
According to different studies, immigrants have helped alleviate labor shortages in some particularly difficult sectors, such as agriculture, have increased demand and consumption, and have contributed to competition through the creation of small businesses. ,
Furthermore, according to official figures, 2.9 million foreign workers contribute to the Spanish social security system, which represents 13.6% of the total.
Given the low birth rate of the native population and its consequent aging, the contribution of foreign workers is critical to maintaining the public system that in Spain ensures a retirement pension. and other benefits.
According to what Javier Díaz Giménez, professor of Economics at the IESE business school, told the BBC, Spain experienced a baby boom between the mid-1950s and the 1970s, but a sharp drop in births followed, so that generation is approaching retirement age without enough workers to replace it.
“The next 20 years will be crucial because more and more workers are going to retire,” said Díaz-Giménez, who recalls that “according to the most recent demographic projections, 14.1 million workers will retire in that period.”
Along these lines, a report published in April by the Bank of Spain estimated that the European country will need 24 million immigrants to maintain its current ratio of active workers per pensioner.
And, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Spain loses about US$17.95 billion a year due to “labor and educational discrimination against the foreign population”.
Its current rulers are convinced that regularizing them is good business for Spain.
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