Diana left her native Peru two years ago, looking for financial and professional stability in Europe.
But, as an undocumented migrant in Spain, life has been difficult. The 40-year-old’s dream of working in the tourism industry has not transpired. Instead, she has got by doing occasional jobs.
“Working without residency documents is hard because employers can tell you one thing and then get you to do something else,” she says. “Sometimes they pay you less than what you’ve agreed to, so that makes things tough.
“It’s stressful, you can get exploited, and then you can end up not just without any money, but sick and lonely.”
Access to many banking products and housing – which is seeing a crisis in Spain due to spiralling rental costs – is severely restricted for those unable to present residency papers to potential landlords.
But the recent announcement by the Spanish government of a scheme to legalise the status of at least half a million migrants has provided Diana, and many others, with hope.
“It’s going to help us in every possible way,” she says. “It’ll be good for the government too, because [these migrants] will be paying taxes, generating income, they will be able to invest, they will be able to set up businesses.”
The scheme will provide foreign nationals with a one-year, renewable, residency visa, and applications will be open from the beginning of April until the end of June. Those applying must prove they have spent at least five months in the country and not have a criminal record.
Estimates of how many migrants will seek to benefit from the scheme vary, from the government’s figure of about 500,000, to that of a report by the police’s National Centre for Immigration and Borders (CNIF), leaked to the media, which suggested that between 750,000 and 1.1 million is a more realistic number.
The Socialist-led coalition government has cited humanitarian reasons for this initiative, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez describing immigrants as people “who have built the progress of this country alongside us”.
But it also sees the measure as highly pragmatic for a country whose unemployment rate is at an 18-year low, and whose economy grew by nearly 3% last year, a growth rate equal to that of the UK, Germany, France and Italy combined.
“Foreign workers play a very important role when it comes to Spain’s macroeconomic success: the growth of its GDP, its strong and resilient labour market,” Elma Saiz, Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Immigration, tells the BBC. She underlines that, of the country’s 22 million registered workers, 14.1% are foreigners.
“Since 2022, half of Spain’s economic growth has been driven by foreign workers,” Saiz adds. “This is about values, about human rights, and, also, obviously, being aware that we face different challenges, and that our good management of the economy is providing results.”
A 2024 report by the central bank appeared to echo the government’s argument: it found that Spain will need approximately 25 million migrants over the next three decades in order to keep the economy and social security system afloat.
Migrants, both registered and undocumented, have a huge presence in the elderly care and hospitality sectors.
Many others work in agriculture, with more than 250,000 foreigners formally registered in the industry’s workforce, according to government figures, as well as many thousands of undocumented migrants. North Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America provide the most workers.
“If we didn’t have immigrant workers it would be a problem for us,” says Francisco José García Navarrete, who represents the ASAJA farmers’ association in Madrid. He says his organisation supports the government’s regularisation programme, although it has concerns about its implementation.
“We are in favour of this new initiative as long as the legalisation of immigrants translates into them getting long-term contracts to work in the countryside,” he says.
The main business employers’ association, the CEOE, has also expressed broad support for the measure, saying that “orderly” immigration is desirable. However, it does have concerns about the government’s plan to introduce the regularisation via decree, rather than allowing parliament to vote on it.
In Spain’s deeply polarised political arena the initiative faces more severe criticism, feeding into an already fierce debate between left and right over immigration.
“Mass regularisation is the confirmation of the lack of an immigration policy,” said Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the conservative People’s Party (PP).
“Spain is the country with the greatest increase in unregulated immigration over the last two years in the whole of the European Union,” he said, estimating that the number of those who will apply for the scheme is “closer to a million people than 500,000”.
The far-right Vox claimed that the government initiative will have a “pull” effect.
“These half million legalised migrants will cause millions more to come, who will aggravate the collapse of healthcare, housing and our security,” said party leader Santiago Abascal.
The government has said that there is no risk of such a pull effect when there is a clear timeframe for the regularisation.
Spain has implemented several similar migrant legalisation schemes in the past, under both left-wing and conservative governments. The PP, for example, formalised the status of more than half a million migrants in 2000-2001, and a previous Socialist administration legalised another 577,000 in 2005.
However, the current plan is being introduced at a time when most other European countries are clamping down on immigration. France and Germany have tightened rules for new arrivals to secure residency, and Italy’s government has approved the use of naval vessels to block arrivals.
In the UK, one of Spain’s only neighbours to have a fellow left-of-centre administration, reducing migrant numbers is a priority for the government.
In this context, the European Commission has sounded a note of caution with regard to Spain’s policy, underlining the need to ensure that migrants do not use it to reside in other countries unlawfully.
“Obtaining a residence permit in the European Union is not a blank cheque,” Magnus Brunner, the Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, told the European Parliament as Spain’s initiative was being discussed. “Every state must avoid decisions that have negative effects on other members.”
In the small Madrid offices of Aculco, an organisation that advises migrants on legal and work issues, a group of foreign nationals prepares for a workshop to inform them about gaining residency.
Manuel, a Peruvian who is planning to apply for the regularisation scheme, is among them. He used to work caring for elderly people but, after an asylum request he had made was rejected, he lost his job and he has been living off his savings since.
“Companies don’t want to employ you without residency and if they do they pay you less than the minimum,” he says. The regularisation, he adds, “will allow me to work and contribute to the social security system.”
“This will change the lives of a lot of people,” says Pilar Rodríguez, a lawyer who specialises in immigration who gives the workshop.
“This measure is also very important for Spain because it’s going to mean that a lot of people are going to be able to keep their heads above the water, and with their contribution to the social security system, Spaniards are also going to benefit.”
