This April 14, the Government has approved in the Council of Ministers the extraordinary regularization of foreign persons, a process whose effective start will take place this Thursday and which is expected to conclude at the end of June, according to the calendar advanced by the Executive.
The measure, pending the details to be published today by the Official State Gazette (BOE), is aimed at those people who already resided in Spain before January 1, 2026 and who meet certain requirements, among them, proving several months of stay in the country and lacking a criminal record. On this last point, National Police unions have warned of the practical difficulties for its verification, pointing out the absence of digital databases in some countries of origin and the processing times in Spain itself, which —they point out— could lead to a vulnerable system.
These warnings are not isolated. Various organizations, political parties, trade unions, and police sources agree on pointing out the need to prepare for possible irregularities in the management of the process. Among them, the appearance of undue charges, the commercialization of false prior appointments, and the action of unauthorized intermediaries in a procedure that is still in the normative development phase.
To this is added the concern conveyed by the National Police regarding the operational capacity of the planned device. According to consulted sources, there is concern about whether the staff reinforcement will be sufficient to face the volume of files, both due to the number of personnel incorporated, and due to their level of experience and specialization. In this context, it is also highlighted that obtaining criminal records from certain countries can sometimes be unfeasible, due to the non-existence of digitized records or the lack of administrative collaboration.
In parallel, the union Funcas foresees that the real volume of people who could benefit from regularization exceeds the government's initial estimates, a circumstance that —according to its calculations— could have an impact on the capacity of social services.
The administrative managers take the initiative in the face of the risk of fraud
In this scenario, the General Council of Associations of Administrative Managers of Spain stands as one of the main actors in the preventive response to possible irregularities. The organization has articulated a set of measures with the aim of providing security, traceability, and guarantees in a process they consider especially exposed.
Given the forecast of high demand, different organizations have issued warnings about possible frauds, especially regarding the obtaining of prior appointments. According to a complaint by the union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), practices have been detected with charges that can reach 450 euros for procedures linked to the process.
However, it is the collective of administrative managers -contrary to the current management of prior appointments-, that has deployed a structured and national-scope response. Among the measures adopted, the creation of GOEX —Official Immigration Agencies— stands out, conceived as secure processing points, as well as the implementation of a professional identification system that allows citizens to know, from the outset, who is managing their file and under what responsibility.
Sources from the National Police consulted by Demócrata indicate that regularization has placed immigration at the center of public debate, reactivating at the same time already known practices, such as charging for free services, offering guaranteed regularizations without a normative basis, or selling non-existent appointments.
According to administrative managers, these practices are part of a structural problem in the field of immigration and not only generate economic harm, but directly affect the legal certainty of applicants, who in many cases do not know who really manages their documentation or to whom they can complain.
According to a CCOO statement, fees ranging from 50 euros for basic consultations to up to 450 euros for alleged regularization procedures have been detected, even before the formal entry into force of the procedure.
A verification system to guarantee traceability
As a response, the managers have promoted the so-called Professional Foreigner's Certificate, a verifiable electronic document that allows to know the professional's identity, their membership number, the association they belong to, and the type of ongoing procedure.
This system, managed through the Mercurio Platform, is informative and does not imply formal submission to the Administration nor alters deadlines or results, but introduces a key element in the process: traceability. Its objective is for citizens to be able to clearly distinguish between a registered professional and an uncontrolled intermediary.
The initiative is completed with the establishment of a registry of immigration agencies, which will allow checking if an office is officially recognized or if it operates outside of any collegiate supervision.
The president of the General Council of Administrative Managers, Fernando Jesús Santiago Ollero, emphasizes that identification is the first element of protection in this area. The collegiate organization considers that regularization opens an opportunity to order the system, but warns of an immediate risk of fraud if action is not taken quickly, which is why these measures seek to offer a coordinated response throughout the territory.
"The black market"
From the political sphere, the Popular Party has expressed its disagreement with the regularization model. The Deputy Secretary of Sectoral Coordination, Alma Ezcurra, questions the lack of a single estimate on the number of beneficiaries, by pointing out differences between the figures handled by the Government (500,000), social platforms (700,000) and the General Commissioner for Immigration (1,200,000).
In line with other warnings -in tune with the alerts conveyed by administrative managers, unions and National Police-, the popular leader also alludes to the possible appearance of a "black market" for fake certificates and reminds that applicants will have one month to accredit their criminal records, extendable to three months via diplomatic channels.
Furthermore, Ezcurra has argued that, although Spain has a demographic problem, "but it is also true that we are the EU country with the largest gap between the children desired and those had. And that -he points out-, is not solved with massive regularizations but with policies that allow Spaniards to form the families they want to have: housing, employment, taxation. Let that be clear. But -he infers-, regularizing without linking to employment does not add contributors, it adds beneficiaries. And public services are already at their limit", he warns.
Deployment of the process
The Minister of Social Security, Elma Saiz, has detailed that the procedure will begin with online applications available 24 hours from this Thursday, while in-person service —by free prior appointment— will start on April 20.
For its management, the Executive has foreseen the incorporation of 550 additional professionals distributed in 450 offices throughout the territory: 60 from Social Security or Treasury, 371 from Post Office and 5 from Immigration.
Saiz has also referred to a report from the National Foresight and Strategy Office, dependent on Moncloa, which raises demographic and economic scenarios linked to migration, pointing out that a 30% reduction in migratory flows could imply a 22% fall in GDP, the disappearance of more than 90,000 establishments and a significant reduction in the population.
The people who meet the requirements will be able to access an authorization to reside and work in Spain, with an initial validity of one year, as well as an affiliation number and health card. Subsequently, they will be able to integrate into the figures provided in the Immigration Regulations.
Among the additional conditions, applicants must prove having worked in Spain, having a specific family unit or justifying a situation of vulnerability.
From the striking gap of the Council of State, to the positioning of the Executive
The report from the Council of State, to which this media outlet has had access, endorses the regularization process, although it states that the Executive has a "striking loophole" in its proposal, because a complete analysis of the economic impact is still in the elaboration phase. Furthermore -political sources report-, the consultative body has ended up rejecting Elma Saiz's flexibility on key aspects regarding criminal records, and ultimately has ended up adopting the Interior Ministry's theses of Minister García-Marlaska.
In this context, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has defended the measure in a letter addressed to the citizenry, in which he describes it as an act of “justice” and “necessity” given the aging of Spanish society.
The head of the Executive highlights that the initiative has had the support of social organizations and more than 600,000 people through a Popular Legislative Initiative, underlining the support of different sectors, among them the Church, trade unions, business owners, and civil society.
Strike at the moment the process starts
Meanwhile, CCOO has called an indefinite strike in the Immigration Offices and CSIF, denouncing an insufficient workforce in Correos and without training. In 2024, the Immigration Offices processed a total of 1.2 million case files, figures that increase at a rate of 150,000 new files each quarter, according to CCOO. For this reason, it considers the situation "unsustainable" in view of the new regularization process which will entail an additional workload. The waiting list for an appointment at Immigration is currently 90 days.
For its part, Sumar's spokesperson, Verónica Martínez, yesterday made a call to "solve administrative problems" that could delay the process. Because -she warned-, "if due to issues of administrative practice, we are left without being able to regularize, that is a problem," she warned. "What I want -she advanced to Sumar's leader-, is that all people who meet the material requirements of the Royal Decree can regularize their situation, because this is the objective of any norm, to be able to deploy all its effects." Thus -she insisted-, "we have to guarantee it, not put it on one side and on the other that there are a series of problems. If we know there are some problems, let's try to solve them," she stated at a press conference in the Congress of Deputies.
Beyond Sumar, Compromís has branded as "injustice" that Sahrawis cannot regularize their status and asks the Government to solve it.