1.7 million migrant people in Spain have requested regularization promoted by the Sánchez Government

The extraordinary process of mass regularization promoted by the Government of Pedro Sánchez was conceived as an exceptional measure to respond to the irregular administrative situation of hundreds of thousands of migrant people in Spain, facilitating their access to basic rights and their integration into the formal labor market. This mechanism, aimed at reducing the underground economy and improving social protection, has allowed more than 1.17 million people to be regularized, with a resolution rate higher than 50% of the applications submitted. The initiative primarily benefits workers in sectors with high labor demand —such as care, agriculture, and hospitality— and also seeks to strengthen the sustainability of the Social Security system through the incorporation of new contributors.

This Tuesday, the deadline established by the Government of Spain to apply for the extraordinary process of immigrant regularization expired, a measure aimed at foreign individuals who resided in the country before January 1 of this year and who lacked a residence and work permit, provided they had no criminal record. The final number of files will be known this Wednesday, after the Executive had already counted around 900,000 applications in mid-June.

The procedure was launched on April 16 and was accompanied by intense institutional and social mobilization. The Government now plans to close the initial processing phase and begin the evaluation of the received applications, in a context where the Executive defends the measure as a structural response to the country's demographic and labor challenges. Interested individuals had until this Tuesday to complete the process. The procedure could be carried out through the Mercurio digital platform, dependent on the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, or in person by appointment at authorized centers.

Coinciding with the closing of the application process, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, presented this Tuesday in Madrid the new Integration and Citizenship Plan, accompanied by the institutional campaign 'Where do they come from? They come from building a country'.

The event included testimonies from migrant people who had participated in different regularization processes and featured the final intervention of the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, in charge of closing the day.

"Pride in being Spanish"

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, disseminated a letter addressed to citizens through the social network X, in which he stated: "Today, again, I feel pride in being Spanish." In that message, he announced the approval in the Council of Ministers of the Royal Decree that has made possible the extraordinary regularization process for people in an irregular situation, an initiative that, he stressed, has been driven by "hundreds of organizations" and "more than six hundred thousand people."

In his writing, the head of the Executive defended regularization as "above all, an act of normalization", considering that it recognizes an already existing reality: that of hundreds of thousands of people who are already part of the country's daily life. He also described it as "an act of justice with our own history", recalling that Spain has historically been a country of emigration.

Sánchez also added that "it is not only an act of justice. It is also a necessity", in reference to the aging population and the importance of integrating these people into the labor market to sustain the contribution system and public services. In his message, he defended that "the path is clear: better integrate, better organize, and channel all the potential of those who already live among us", while ruling out that "neither technology nor automation" can replace this process. The objective, he pointed out, is for regularization to allow "recognizing rights, but also demanding obligations", guaranteeing participation "on equal terms."