Spain | Sánchez’s great immigration bonanza: Nearly 1.2 million regularizations in under 3 months

The Socialist government of Pedro Sánchez has completed one of the largest mass regularization processes for immigrants in the recent history of Spain. According to official data released on Thursday, 1,174,978 applications were filed during the special application period that ran from mid-April to June 30.

According to Secretary of State for Migration Pilar Cancela, more than 600,000 applications have already been processed. AFP reported that 67% of the applicants are from Latin America, while 22.9% came from Africa. Colombia leads by a wide margin (25.9%), followed by Morocco (13.3%), Venezuela (11.8%), and Peru (8.8%).

Furthermore, the predominant profile is young and male: eight out of 10 are under 45 years old, and 57% are men.

Applicants were required to prove at least five months of residence in Spain as of Jan. 1, 2026, and to have no criminal record. Authorities have a three-month deadline to process the applications and decide whether or not to grant a residence and work permit, valid exclusively within Spanish territory.

A runaway immigration plan

This plan, touted by the Spanish prime minister as a welcoming immigration policy, has become the flagship policy of his beleaguered administration amid multiple corruption scandals and runs counter to the stricter immigration policies being implemented by numerous European Union (E.U.) countries through sovereignist policies.

On Tuesday, shortly before the deadline expired, Pedro Sánchez announced that applications had surpassed 1 million, more than doubling the government’s initial projection, which had expected to benefit some 500,000 immigrants.

The main opposition party, the center-right People’s Party (P.P.), along with right-wing party Vox, have taken a firm stance against this broad regularization plan, claiming it is “unsustainable” and a “migrant invasion.”