The Spanish government wants to regularize the status of undocumented immigrants who arrived before 2025.

BarcelonaThe Spanish government is moving to unblock the Popular Legislative Initiative (ILP) that calls for the regularization of nearly 500,000 people. The text has been stuck in Congress for over a year, but the Spanish executive has sent to the lower house groups a draft that is based on this ILP and aims to regularize migrants who have been in the State since before December 31, 2024, as it has advanced The Country and the ARA has confirmed. The draft, which is still being negotiated, aims to establish a "temporary, exceptional, and time-limited" regime that regulates a "new authorization for exceptional circumstances" that enables these people to "reside and work."

This represents a change in the PSOE's position on the matter, which until recently had been reluctant. But what has changed? The draft justifies regularization by stating that the "new international geopolitical situation" has led to an "intensification of human mobility throughout the world," and that failure to "compare" migratory flows with state regulations "can generate situations of insecurity or lack of protection" for migrants, increasing the risk of exclusion. The new regulation, the draft explains, aims to "promote the integration and inclusion" of these people in society. In a press conference following the Cabinet meeting, Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría avoided providing a figure for the number of beneficiaries, pending the final agreement.

However, this move comes in a very specific context and with two factors that may influence it. As the draft acknowledges, the regularization now proposed by the Spanish government could serve to plug the loophole left by the tightening of immigration regulations. The reform, which comes into effect this Tuesday, relaxes the requirements for social or educational roots and, according to the Spanish government, should allow for the regularization of around 300,000 people. However, The reform has the opposite effect on asylum seekers, since if they are denied official protection, the administration will not count the time they have lived and worked in the State. This means they will be forced into administrative irregularity for two years, until they can begin legally establishing residence, compared to the current six-month period.

Guide to Podemos

On the other hand, approving this ILP is one of the main demands of Podemos, a movement that could serve as a counterpart for unblock the delegation of powers to Catalonia regarding immigration that Junts agreed upon with the Socialists. Ione Belarra's party had so far opposed this pact and accused Junts of being an anti-immigration party. Before discussing the delegation of powers, the Podemos leader called for the ILP to be approved first and demanded that Junts prove it is not a "racist" party. "Podemos will be open to debate and discussion about powers related to migration," the Podemos leader stated.