The 9 Spanish Regularisation Processes

Many of us rejoiced in January this year as we saw the power of years of collective work from the Regularización Ya movement come to fruition. Their enduring work with the Spanish government led to the approval of a decree to regularise half a million undocumented people living in Spain.

Unequivocally, this will improve many people’s situation as they no longer live excluded from basic rights and stability.

This landmark decision is not without precedent, but rather builds on a long-standing pattern of large-scale regularisation efforts in Spain – making it the ninth regularisation process since 1980.

Spain has implemented several major regularisation programmes, led by both social-democratic (PSOE) and conservative (PP) governments.

Altogether, these measures have enabled over a million people to regularise their status and gain the right to live and work legally in the country.

Prior to this year, there have been eight extraordinary processes:

• The first two extraordinary processes were activated in 1985 and 1991, under a social-democratic government. More than 147.000 foreigners were regularised.

• In 1996, the conservative government devised a system to provide documentation to whoever had formerly had a residence permit and their relatives, as long as they had been in Spain before the beginning of the year. This system provided documentation to 21,000 immigrants.

• In the year 2000, legalisation was offered to foreigners having arrived in Spain before June 1st 1999, as long as they had formerly applied for a permit. More than 244,000 foreigners applied, and around 163,000 were legalised.

• To provide for the many applications that were refused, in 2001, the government revised the applications of those who didn’t manage to document being in Spain before the established date. This revision allowed 36,000 more people to be legalised.

• The next extraordinary process was also offered in 2001, but only to Equatorian citizens, legalising more than 20,000 people. This process was approved after twelve Equatorian immigrants without residence or work permits died in the town of Lorca, when a train hit the van in which they were commuting to work on a farm.

• The greatest legalisation introduced by a conservative government was also activated in 2001, providing documentation to more than 239,000 foreigners. They had to prove that they were in Spain since the beginning of the year, as well as having a connection to the country as expressed in real or potential incorporation to the labour market, a former regular residence in the country or family links with legal residents.

• In 2005, the extraordinary legalisation by the social democrat government benefited almost 578,000 foreigners. For the first time, this legislation required a signed work contract from the applicant.

  
  

Regularisations are a familiar instrument within European migration policy. Typically based on case-by-case assessments, they aim to identify those who meet established criteria. Such processes offer a practical means of extending access to rights, supporting the effective management of social, economic, and democratic life, and reducing the risks of exploitation and illegality associated with irregular status.

How does this intersect with refugees and asylum seekers?

While regularisation programmes primarily target undocumented migrants, they are closely connected to the realities faced by refugees and asylum seekers.

Many individuals who are initially denied asylum or who fall through gaps in the protection system ultimately remain in Europe in irregular situations, facing the same precarity, exclusion, and risk of exploitation. In this sense, regularisation can act as a complementary pathway, offering a second chance at stability and rights when formal protection mechanisms fall short.

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What can we learn from the Spanish Regularisation?

• These developments show that meaningful advances in people’s rights, treatment and migration situation are politically achievable when sustained advocacy meets organised public pressure. 

• That there is space for pragmatic, rights-based approaches to Europe’s borders that prioritise inclusion and stability over exclusion.

• That a different approach to migration already exists. 

Wondering where to start?

• Read our upcoming April Report: Redefining Citizenship, Residence and Irregularity in Europe

• Support your relevant organisations advocating for regularisations, for example,  Regularización Ya in Spain, Regularise in the UK and the Justice for the Undocumented campaign in Ireland.

• Have curious conversations and keep the discussion alive, framing regularisation as both a humane, natural and workable solution.

Image by Silvia Draws for Europe Must Act