The extraordinary regularization of immigrants – whose application period began on April 16 and will end on June 30 – is not the first to be carried out in Spain. During the Presidency of Felipe González, 174,011 people were regularized (1986, 1991-92, and 1996), with Aznar, there were 503,327 (2000 and 2001), and with Zapatero, 576,506 (2005). Several reports show that this last one, neither caused a pull effect nor increased public spending.
The regularization of Zapatero (called ‘Normalization Process’) took place in 2005, it required a work contract and to have been registered in Spain for at least six months. The Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, IESE Business School and ESADE have conducted studies on its repercussions. These are the main conclusions.
Pull effect
All reports agree on the same idea: the regularization of 2005 did not cause a pull effect.
In Esade they highlight that a 2025 study (in which they participated), and published in Journal of Labor Economics, concludes that there was no significant increase in immigration after the measure, as flows continued to respond mainly to economic factors such as labor demand or the situation in the countries of origin.
Along the same lines, the Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation pointed out in 2021 that the process did not translate into an increase in the arrival of immigrants. To analyze it, it compared countries affected by regularization with others that were not and detected no relevant differences in migratory flows or in the stock of immigrant population.
For his part, Joan Monràs, visiting professor of Economics at IESE and professor of Economics at Pompeu Fabra University, points out in an interview published on the IESE website in January of this year, that no increase was observed in the total number of immigrants nor in those from the same countries of origin as those who benefited from the measure.
Public spending and revenue
Again the three analyses agree that the regularization increased public revenue without causing a significant increase in spending.
According to the study by Esade, each regularized immigrant generated around 4,000 euros annually in Social Security contributions, in addition to other tax revenues such as personal income tax, without a relevant increase in spending on public services such as healthcare or education being registered.
The Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation also highlights the increase in tax collection, estimating the increase in income tax revenue at 4,189 euros per regularized person. In some provinces with a high presence of immigrants, collection in this area grew by 50% in 2005 and 100% in 2006.
While Professor Monràs comments that payroll withholdings increased by more than 4,000 euros per immigrant per year, and emphasizes that there is no evidence of an increase in public spending associated with the measure.
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Formal employment and working conditions
Another of the points on which the reports agree is the positive impact on formal employment and working conditions of immigrants.
The Esade analysis indicates that the regularization allowed many workers to move from the informal economy to the formal one, which improved their job stability, facilitated mobility between sectors, and reduced labor market segmentation.
The Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation provides concrete data: the weight of immigrants in Social Security affiliation went from 6% to 9% in the first months of the process. In sectors such as domestic employment, affiliates went from 60,000 to 160,000. Furthermore, one year later, approximately half of those regularized in this area had accessed jobs in other sectors with better conditions.
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From IESE, Monràs details that many immigrants started in domestic work with temporary contracts, but later moved to jobs in hotels, restaurants, and larger companies, with higher salaries, which shows that their irregular situation limited their job opportunities.
Nevertheless, both Esade and IESE point out that not all workers remained in the formal economy and that some returned to situations of informality.
Salaries of native workers
In relation to the impact on Spanish workers, studies on the regularization of immigrants in 2005 rule out widespread negative effects on wages, although they do identify differentiated impacts.
The Esade study reflects a slight increase in the salaries of native workers, especially among those with higher educational levels, in a context of greater transparency in the labor market.
The Social Observatory of the ”la Caixa” Foundation also maintains that an increase of close to 3% in the average salary of native workers occurred, both low and high-skilled. However, it warns of different effects depending on the profile: workers with lower educational levels were more affected in terms of employment. Specifically, during the two years following the reform, for every 10 regularized immigrants, around four native low-skilled workers lost their jobs, largely due to the reinforcement of labor inspections, which increased by 132%.
In this regard, Monràs emphasizes that the decrease in employment among low-skilled natives is also linked to the intensification of controls against the informal economy, rather than to greater direct competition with regularized immigrants.