Up to 500 euros for free migrant regularization procedures

L'Hospitalet de LlobregatWhile most authorized Post Offices are attending without remarkable incidents and by strict prior appointment migrant people who can carry out the paperwork regularization in person since this Monday, long queues are multiplying in the services that the city councils have set up to speed up mandatory procedures. Since Thursday the 16th, applications can also be made online, but it is this Monday that in-person procedures have opened. The delay in the publication of the required documents has meant that today the bulk of the 150,000 beneficiaries estimated for Catalonia are still pending to collect all the necessary documentation.In L'Hospitalet, the queue goes around the enormous La Farga building, where the social vulnerability report and the municipal population register certificate are processed. The City Council expects to attend to 1,500 people today out of the 27,000 who already live in the municipality. The first applicants began to arrive before midnight this Sunday. The sisters Sandra and María, Colombians who have resided in the city for three years and seven months, have been waiting since 4 in the morning. "If they had told us from the beginning that we needed the vulnerability, three-quarters of those of us who are here today would already have the report," they lament, without being sure that officials can respond to everyone in the queue today.

"They know we are desperate"

Municipal social workers have also expressed their discontent because thousands of certificates now have to be rushed, as this will worsen the saturation that basic social services are already suffering. "Why is it required to prove vulnerability to people without documentation, who cannot work or rent, who do not have all their rights recognized and who by default are all vulnerable?", the sector asks. "They make us dizzy with the procedure because they know we are desperate", indicates Mónica, from Ecuador, who like many who are queuing could not go to work this morning. And if they don't work, they don't get paid, those around her agree.

Walter is from Ecuador and has spent months gathering the criminal record certificate, the census record, and the documentation of the studies he is pursuing, which serve to prove that he exceeds the minimum required five months of stay in the State. In his case, he has paid 300 euros to a lawyer to advise him on the necessary procedures for the process and "especially for the appointment" to submit all the papers. The Colombian sisters have also paid 250 euros each. They tried to do the paperwork on their own, but they didn't get anywhere because, they say, "nobody knew anything for sure." John, a Bolivian who is also queuing, has also decided to pay: "At least we are sure, and it's better to pay 100 euros than to be left without papers."A social worker explains that she has assisted users who have paid up to 500 euros for the procedures, which include administrative fees charged by consulates and the State. "They take advantage of us," denounces Imelda (who, like the rest, does not want to be identified). This Peruvian woman has an appointment tomorrow at the Post Office, ten minutes before 10 AM, she says excitedly, because she knows it will be "the last big step" to be reunited with her children, who have remained in the South American country. "I came to Catalonia two years ago and if five years ago someone had asked me, I would have said no, that I would not abandon my country – she explains –. But they kill us in the street, on the bus, if we don't pay, they extort us, and that's no life." She counts the days to be able to start the reunification procedures for her children, aged 11 and 20, with whom she speaks every day.Overtime to assist users

The social entities authorized to participate in this extraordinary process are also working overtime to assist registered users. On Friday, at the headquarters of the Coordinadora Obrim Fronteres, dozens of people patiently waited for their turn to be attended by volunteers. In front of the computer, they reviewed the missing documentation to complete the file: criminal record certificates in Spain and in the country of origin, public transport passes, or sending money to family, among others. "There are still those who have not obtained the sworn translations and the notarized powers of attorney," explained a volunteer.El Paipé, a 22-year-old Senegalese man, is confident he can turn his life around after so much suffering, a journey in a dinghy to the Canary Islands when he was a minor, and living on the streets for a couple of years since the DGAIA expelled him from the center after controversial age tests determined he was an adult and, therefore, not entitled to be in the protection system. "Now it's time to work, finally, because I left home hoping to work and be a good man," he states. A compatriot, also young, replies that one of the first things he will do when he has a NIE (identity document for non-EU citizens) is to save money to go back home and "hug" his mother. A foreseen collapse

The federation of Catalan Entities for Social Action (ECAS), the Obrim Fronteres Coordinator, and the Regularization Now movement warned of the risk of collapse of these offices. A few days before this extraordinary regularization was launched, they had already warned the Spanish government that clear criteria and sufficient staff were needed.

To handle the more than 150,000 anticipated applications (60,000 in Catalonia), the entities called for the device to be dimensioned with a logic of "anticipation, sufficiency, and territorial coverage" to guarantee access to the procedure. For this reason, they advocated for activating all official registers and thus facilitating in-person processing, providing multilingual information, and asking consulates and embassies to expedite the obtaining of passports and criminal records.

Furthermore, Arrels Fundació estimates that 75% of non-EU homeless people who can benefit from the process will have “serious difficulties due to their situation of social exclusion”, as many do not have the documentation because they have either lost it or it has expired.

Who can apply for regularization?

Regularization is a process essentially aimed at those who have either applied for asylum before January 1, 2026, or are in an irregular administrative situation and arrived in Spain before that same date. Furthermore, those who request it must have resided in the State for at least five months before making the application, they cannot have a criminal record, and they cannot be a "threat to public security".

When and where should the procedures be carried out?

If these requirements are met, the interested party can request regularization at any time of the day through the online portal since last Thursday. Starting this Monday, April 20, you can also request an appointment to process it in person at one of the Social Security offices, Post Offices, or immigration offices until June 30.

What documents are needed?

To request regularization, you must fill out and submit the model available on the enabled website – a process that can be done independently or with specialized advice –, and a copy of the passport, registration card, or travel document is also required. Furthermore, the interested party must also prove that they have been living in Spain since before January 1, 2026, and submit the criminal record certificate.

¿How is residence in Spain proven?

To prove that one has been living in the State before the indicated date, both asylum seekers and persons in an irregular situation may present public or private documents containing identifying data that are dated. Furthermore, persons in an irregular situation must also prove one of the following situations: having worked with a legal contract in Spain, having minor children in their care or living with dependent persons, or proving that they are in a situation of vulnerability.

Certify the situation of vulnerability

If the interested party is in an irregular and vulnerable situation, a certificate must be downloaded from the website of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations. The document must be accredited by entities registered in the Electronic Register of Foreigners Collaborators (RECEX), such as the Red Cross and Cáritas, or by social services.

The criminal record certificate

To process the regularization, you must also present the criminal record certificate, or an equivalent document, issued by the authorities of the country of origin or the countries where the person has resided for the five years prior to arriving in Spain. In the event that it is proven that the criminal record could not be obtained within one month, and this is accredited through a responsible declaration, the person may also request an extended period, of a maximum of three months, to obtain the document through diplomatic channels.