Spain Begins Regularization of 500,000 Migrants Amid Regional Chaos

Spain launched an extraordinary immigration regularization process on April 20, 2026, with the government estimating the measure will benefit approximately 500,000 people, though some forecasts put the figure as high as one million. The first day of in-person applications drew long queues at municipal offices across the country, with the heaviest congestion concentrated in Catalonia and the Valencian Community. Hundreds of migrants spent the night at the La Farga trade fair center in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat to obtain essential documents, while waits in Barcelona's Plaza Sant Miquel exceeded four hours. In Valencia, migrants lined up from dawn at city hall offices, with the queue stretching to the doors of the Olympia theater on San Vicente street. Communities including Galicia, the Canary Islands, and La Rioja reported low turnout and normal operations, while Madrid's post offices maintained general order. The process allows immigrants who have been in Spain for at least five months to apply for a one-year work and residence permit valid across all sectors and locations in the country.

Vulnerability certificate becomes the key bottleneck The single most disruptive element on the first day was the vulnerability report, a document introduced at the last minute in the decree that caught many applicants unprepared. Hugo, a Colombian man waiting in Valencia, had assembled his passport, proof of five months' residence, and a criminal record certificate from Colombia, but could not obtain the vulnerability certificate after being turned away by Caritas, the Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders. Dorvin, a Honduran naval engineer with job offers from companies at the Port of Valencia, described the requirement as a paradox: migrants without documentation are by definition the most vulnerable, yet proving that vulnerability requires paperwork they lack. „Since I don't have a work history, then that is the starting point. It is a bureaucratic loop that manages them. The lack of accreditation already implies it” — Dorvin via eldiario.es In Zaragoza, municipal registry workers could not issue the certificate without first referring applicants to social services for individual case assessments, creating a cascading delay. Natalia Chueca, the mayor of Zaragoza, described the situation as "chaos" and blamed the central government's decree-law for providing insufficient legal guidance to civil servants. „It is not acceptable. The decree-law does not give us guarantees or legal certainty when a civil servant has to decide if a family or a person is vulnerable” — Natalia Chueca via El Periódico

Catalonia launches shock plan for 46,500 stuck cases Catalonia moved to ease pressure on local administrations by announcing a separate shock plan to regularize through the ordinary route before June 16, 2026. Carlos Prieto, the Government Delegate in Catalonia, announced the plan following a meeting at Palau Robert in Barcelona with the Generalitat, municipalities, social entities, employers' associations, and unions. The aim is to process these backlogged cases separately so they do not enter the extraordinary regularization queue, which the Generalitat estimates could involve up to 150,000 people in Catalonia alone. Prieto acknowledged there had been a "lack of time" to coordinate with local governments and entities ahead of the launch, but downplayed the first-day queues as a natural consequence of the procedure's significance. „I have total conviction that the measure will go very well in Spain, but that in Catalonia it will be excellent” — Carlos Prieto via El Periódico The Minister of Social Rights of the Generalitat, Mònica Martínez Bravo, announced that the regional government would approve a package of supporting measures the following day, including a dedicated website and a training program for technicians handling applications. The 56 post offices and Social Security offices authorized in Catalonia assisted more than 2,500 people in the first two days of in-person service, a figure Prieto expected to grow "exponentially" during the week.

Fraud alerts and political tensions shadow the launch Beyond the administrative bottlenecks, the launch exposed migrants to exploitation, with associations in Andalusia detecting lawyers charging up to 600 euros for procedures that should cost no more than 50 euros, according to sources from Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía cited by El Mundo. In one case reported in Seville, a person demanded 200 euros from each undocumented migrant simply to assist with paperwork. Isolated computer system failures were reported in Cantabria and Castilla y León, generating specific processing delays, while some Social Security offices in Madrid redirected applicants to afternoon slots. In Madrid, daily appointment slots for the process rose from 1,500 to 5,500 in just 48 hours, reflecting the scale of demand building across the capital. The process drew sharp political divisions in Andalusia, where regional elections are scheduled for May 17, with left-wing parties defending the measure and right-wing parties opposing it. José Fernández, the delegate for Social Policies of Madrid, described the regularization as "hasty and perhaps seeking collapse," accusing the government of proceeding "without listening to the other public administrations involved." The application deadline for the extraordinary process runs until June 30, 2026, with more than 370 post offices and designated Social Security centers across Spain authorized to receive submissions.

Spain has conducted large-scale immigration regularization processes before, most notably in 2005 under Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, when several hundred thousand undocumented migrants were legalized. The current process, promoted by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is described in source articles as extraordinary and was established by decree-law. The RECEX registry plays a central role in validating the vulnerability certificates required for applications. Elma Saiz, Spain's Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration since 2023 and government spokesperson since 2025, oversees the ministry responsible for the process.

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