The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the royal decree regulating the extraordinary regularization process for migrants, which will be published this Wednesday in the BOE and will come into force on Thursday. For its deployment, the Executive has incorporated more than 550 additional professionals who will attend in 450 offices distributed throughout Spain —60 from Social Security or the Treasury, 371 from Correos and 5 from Immigration—.
This was explained by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, at the press conference after the Council, in which she did not detail the economic cost of the device, aimed at benefiting “hundreds of thousands” of people who already reside in Spain.
The online application can be made from Thursday, April 16, and in-person from Monday, April 20. Interested individuals will have until June 30 to submit their application through either of the two channels. Saiz has emphasized that in-person service will require a mandatory and free prior appointment, which can be requested from Thursday both online and by phone.
The minister has insisted that not all offices will handle this procedure nor will they do so at any time. “I want to be very clear and ask for citizen and media collaboration. Not all offices will be open nor at any time. We will inform adequately and we do not want anyone to get frustrated by going without having been informed,” she pointed out.
In this sense, he/she has defended that the operational plan has been dimensioned to guarantee agility and sufficient coverage. “We have formed a team with more than 550 additional professionals to attend to people, process applications, analyze files, request rectifications and resolve authorizations,” he/she has explained.
Likewise, he has highlighted the use of the unique Mercurio platform, through which all documentation will be submitted and from which UTEX —the unit for processing immigration files dependent on the Ministry— will manage the procedures. “It is a very well-developed operation. We want it to work well and we have put all the means to achieve it,” he added.
Without immigrants "more than 90,000 bars would disappear"
Saiz has stated that the Council of State endorses the regulatory path chosen for this process and has highlighted a report from the Economic and Social Council.
Furthermore, he/she has cited a recent study by the National Office of Foresight and Strategy that proposes a scenario with a 30% reduction in migration by 2075. “GDP would fall by 22%, more than 90,000 bars would disappear, waiting lists would increase and we would lose 15 million inhabitants,” he/she pointed out.
Those who meet the requirements will be able to obtain an authorization to reside and work throughout the national territory, along with an affiliation number and access to the health card. The authorization will have an initial duration of one year.
After that period, they will be able to incorporate themselves into the figures provided for in the Immigration Regulations, which will allow their progressive integration into the system, as the minister has explained.
People in an irregular situation must also prove one of these three conditions: having worked with a contract in Spain; having a family unit with minors, people with disabilities or first-degree ascendants; or demonstrating a situation of vulnerability through an official certificate.
Minors will obtain a five-year residence permit and their application can be processed in a single appointment together with that of their family.
Saiz has insisted that the objective is to guarantee access to the process without harming the ordinary attention of public services.
How and when to apply for regularization?
Applications may be submitted electronically or in person. The online channel will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the application period and will be enabled on Thursday, April 16 through the website of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
According to Saiz, this option, "the fastest and simplest", will allow access via electronic certificate (if one has a NIE), through the Electronic Register of Powers of Attorney, through representatives such as lawyers or managers, or with the support of more than 150 registered collaborating entities.
For in-person attendance, it will be essential to have a prior appointment. Social Security offices will participate (at least one per province in the afternoon), Post Office branches in capitals and municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, and certain Immigration offices that will be specified on the website.
The deadline to request an appointment will begin on April 16, although in-person service will start on the 20th. The appointment can be managed online or by phone through 060.
Migrants in an irregular situation and applicants for international protection who were in Spain before January 1, 2026, and have remained for at least five continuous months, may avail themselves of the process, provided they lack a criminal record and do not pose a threat to public order or security.
Accredit stay: public or private documents
The stay in Spain may be accredited by any verifiable document, whether public, private or a combination of both. The registration certificate will be valid, although not mandatory. All documents must be nominative and include a date.
This will be the seventh regularization process for migrants in Spain. In the previous six, driven by governments of different political leanings, around 1.3 million people were regularized, as Saiz has recalled.
“When social reality surpasses bureaucracy, a responsible State acts to order it. Others did it before,” the minister has defended, who has underlined the “triple legitimacy” of the process: social, political, and economic.