Spain's migrant regularization deadline arrives with over a million applicants and EU legal cloud

Deadline ends for mass regularization

The application window opened on April 16 and closes today. According to government figures, over one million people have registered for the program, which grants temporary residence and work permits to migrants who were in Spain before January 1, 2026, without a criminal record. As of June 15, 900,000 applications had been submitted and 360,000 were admitted for processing, leading to provisional authorizations.

Court raises EU compatibility concerns

The Supreme Court’s Fifth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber has proposed referring the decree to the Court of Justice of the European Union (TJUE) to assess whether it conflicts with EU law, specifically the Schengen Convention and Regulation 2016/399. The court acted on appeals from the regional governments of Valencia and Aragon, both led by the conservative PP, questioning aspects of Royal Decree 316/2026. The justices gave the involved parties five days to comment before deciding on interim measures.

“...a measure adopted by a member state, through an infra-legal regulatory norm, in the framework of a massive regularization and without prior coordination with other member states, under which a third-country national who benefits from a first temporary residence authorization of one year acquires the right to move freely within the Schengen area for 90 days in any 180-day period.”

The same court had previously rejected an urgent appeal from the Community of Madrid, which argued that public services would collapse.

Government launches integration plan

While the regularization process concludes, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presented the Integration and Citizenship Plan, endowed with 505 million euros in its first year. The plan targets employment, education, housing, health, coexistence, and anti-discrimination measures. Among its allocations, 30 million euros are earmarked for programs to strengthen migrants’ command of Spain’s co-official languages and understanding of Spanish norms and values. The government described the regularization as “a milestone that made Spain a fairer, stronger, and better country.”

Barcelona processes thousands of applications

In Barcelona, the City Council assisted 87,000 people through municipal services set up for the process, according to Deputy Mayor Raquel Gil. Over the past two and a half months, the city deployed up to five dedicated centers to alleviate long lines at citizen service offices. The city issued 34,576 vulnerability certificates and 378,293 registration certificates and flyers, the latter a 50% increase over the same period last year.

Political criticism from the left

Podemos leader Ione Belarra urged the government to extend the deadline and condemned what she called “ICE-style hunting” of migrants through collective deportation flights. She also criticized EU immigration rules as a source of “institutional racism” while noting that Spain retains sovereignty over its migration policies.

“Let them extend the deadline and stop trying to hunt people down like they are doing with collective deportation flights.”