Over 1 million undocumented migrants apply for amnesty in Spain
Spain's government announced that more than one million undocumented migrants have applied for a regularization program initially expected to benefit 500,000 people. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended his open immigration policy, citing economic needs.
More than one million undocumented migrants in Spain have applied for legal status under a scheme that has defied a broader European crackdown on irregular immigration, the government said on Tuesday, the final day for submissions. The vast program, launched in April by the left-wing government, was originally predicted to benefit around 500,000 people, most from Latin America.
"The more than one million applications submitted show how necessary this recognition of rights and responsibilities was," Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told an event in Madrid. Sanchez has become a standard-bearer of more open immigration policies as his European neighbors, including some Socialist peers, tighten measures in response to pressure from rising far-right parties. He has long argued that immigrants are needed to sustain the economy, the welfare state, and pensions amid Spain's aging population and rural depopulation.
The number of applications does not necessarily indicate how many migrants will secure legal status. Applicants must prove they have a clean criminal record and have spent at least five consecutive months in Spain before January 1. Authorities have three months to process the paperwork and decide whether to issue a work and residence permit valid only in Spain.
For Juana Hernandez, a 59-year-old Cuban who has lived in Spain for two and a half years and whose application was recently approved, the plan "is a huge opportunity." She paid a lawyer roughly €200 to handle the formalities. Mohamed, a Moroccan jobseeker who has been in Spain irregularly for about four years, hopes legal status will allow him to work legally and pay contributions, and also spare him from unscrupulous employers who take advantage of undocumented migrants by paying low wages or not paying at all.
Sanchez, who has presided over one of the world's fastest-growing developed economies, has touted the benefits of immigration for sectors like construction that need more workers. Spanish business leaders have welcomed the regularization drive, but the conservative and far-right opposition are furious, claiming it will encourage more irregular immigration. Sanchez accused the right of "fuelling fear and stirring up xenophobic discourse that does not solve any problem."
