‘They’re giving them citizenship so they can vote’, ‘they’ll overwhelm the healthcare system’, ‘they’ll be able to move to other EU countries’. Is there any truth to the claims surrounding the Spanish government’s plan to regularise over 500,000 undocumented migrants?
Immigration has become the main topic of debate in Spain in recent days, especially following the government’s announcement of a blanket regularisation of up to 800,000 undocumented migrants living in the country.
The leftist Sánchez government has approved a decree which will give at least 500,000 undocumented migrants the right to work and reside in the country. According to the Funcas think-tank, however, around 840,000 undocumented migrants lived in Spain at the beginning of January 2025.
The move has caused quite the reaction on the Spanish right. Opposition parties have claimed the measure is an attempt to boost the electoral roll in favour of the Socialists (PSOE) and a whole host of allegations and misinformation have spread on social media following the measure.
Here are some of the main myths fact-checked.
Newly regularised migrants can vote in Spanish general elections
No, they can’t. This has been a common talking point by opponents of the measure from the Spanish opposition all the way down to commenters on The Local’s Facebook page — and it’s not true.
The Spanish right has accused the Sánchez government of giving temporary residency to irregular migrants in order to bolster their electorate and ensure victory for Sánchez’s Socialists (PSOE) in the next election.
But it makes no sense. No immigrant who gains from this mass regularisation will be able to vote in the 2027 general election because only Spanish nationals can vote in general elections.
Some foreigners resident in Spain can vote in local elections. Routes to citizenship, however, something needed to vote in general elections, can take up to ten years.
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They will gain full EU status and rights
Again, wrong. Migrants who benefit from the regularisation will not have full European legal status and cannot enter any Member State to work or live there.
The measure does allow them to visit countries that are part of the Schengen Area under the same terms as those who have a tourist or study visa, but regularisation offers short-term residency in Spain only.
According to the provisional text, which is still in the consultation phase, irregular migrants who are granted regularisation will obtain a temporary residence permit for exceptional circumstances with an initial validity of one year, or five years in the case of families with minor children, which enables them to “reside and work for someone else or on their own account, anywhere in Spanish territory”.
Rights to move to or work in another European Union are reserved for citizens of Member States, not temporary residents.
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The majority will be African migrants arriving on boats
As The Local has already reported on, much of the misinformation doing the rounds on social media suggests that this amnesty will principally benefit African migrants who arrived in Spain on boats.
In reality this is a tiny proportion of the people who will benefit.
The vast majority of paperless migrants affected by the blanket regularisation are Latino. Funcas data shows 70 percent of undocumented migrants in Spain come from South American countries, while Central America and the Caribbean account for around 17 percent.
Just 5 percent came from African countries, and the remaining 7 percent arrived from Europe, the rest of America, Asia and Oceania.
That means the vast majority are Spanish speakers, culturally aligned and often have family ties or ancestry in Spain.
READ ALSO: Myth buster – Most undocumented migrants in Spain do not arrive in boats
It will create a ‘pull factor’ to Spain
Critics have claimed the decision will have a pull factor or ‘call effect’ (efecto llamada) that will entice more immigrants to enter Spain illegally. This would be pointless, as one of the key requirements for accessing this regularisation is to have arrived in Spain before December 31st 2025, meaning that those who enter after that date would not be eligible for regularisation.
In short: this regularisation is offered for a short period of time to migrants who can prove they are already living in Spain.
Furthermore, mass regularisations of undocumented migrants is nothing new.
It’s already been done several times over the decades, including by the right-wing opposition Popular Party (that is now criticising the Sánchez government for doing the same) when it was in government. This includes the PP Prime Minister José María Aznar, who in 2000 and 2001 allowed 503,000 migrants to regularise their situation.
There’s little evidence of a ‘call effect’ after any of the other regularisations. The last took place in 2005, when José Luis Zapatero was Prime Minister, and there was no evidence of any pull factor, experts say.
READ ALSO: Spanish Expression of the Day – Efecto llamada
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Migrants who benefit can obtain citizenship without a criminal record check
Also wrong. Opponents have stated that undocumented migrants ‘will be able to obtain nationality without a criminal record certificate’ after benefiting from the regularisation.
Again, it should be repeated that those granted regularisation will not obtain nationality, as these are different processes, although for nationality it is necessary to be in a regular situation and prove that you have no criminal record, among other requirements.
READ ALSO: Q&A – How Spain’s mass regularisation of undocumented migrants will work
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The regularisation will collapse the healthcare system
Some critics also say that the influx of migrants could collapse the healthcare system.
But data from the Ministry of Health indicates that only 11 percent of medical consultations carried out in the national health system correspond to people born abroad, despite the fact that this group represents a significant part of the working population.
Data from previous regularisations show that migrants contribute more to the public purse than they receive in benefits.
Looking at the example of the 2005 regularisation, the sum of the contributions made by the roughly 600,000 people who were given papers then contributed to an increase in social security enrolment and swelled the public coffers. A study published in 2021 by a group of researchers from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) concluded that each regularised immigrant contributed between €4,000 and €5,000 per year in income tax alone.
“The 2005 regularisation had a clearly positive effect. Applying the same criteria as then, regularisation will make a similar contribution to the state coffers, although it depends on how it is applied,: says Joan Monrás, Professor of Economics and one of the authors of the report.
READ ALSO: Spain’s far right calls for review of a million citizenships granted under Sánchez
