Overview
- The government opened the regularisation window in April and closed applications on June 30, and the Ministry of Inclusion says 1,174,978 people applied with about 608,000 granted provisional residence and work permits for processing.
- Only roughly 11,000 final approvals have been issued so far while officials work through a large backlog and have up to three months to decide most cases.
- Civil-society groups and the Catholic Church led large outreach and filing drives that helped produce the high turnout, and the scheme has already added about 159,097 new Social Security registrations.
- The National Police and some unnamed immigration officials warned that shifting verification duties to ministry staff and registered NGOs weakens checks and risks fraud, and some officials have warned that family-reunification could greatly increase arrivals if many applications succeed.
- The measure was enacted by royal decree after parliamentary routes stalled, drawing legal and political challenges at home and concern from some EU leaders, and observers note the scale is one of the largest regularisations in recent European history.