Amidst a global tide of restrictive immigration policies and the European Union’s focus on combating irregular migration, Spain is charting a dramatically different course. Madrid is not merely accepting migrants; it is actively betting on them as the key pillar of its future prosperity and a crucial countermeasure to demographic decline. This proactive strategy contrasts sharply with the general European approach and highlights a pragmatic acknowledgment of the continent’s deepening labour crisis.
A Plan for Mass Regularisation
The Spanish government has unveiled ambitious plans to grant legal status to more than one million undocumented immigrants within the next three years (by 2027). This bold initiative comprises two main legislative tracks:
- Government Reform (May 2025): A reform already in effect aims to legalise 300,000 people per year for three years, totalling 900,000.
- Draft Bill: A separate bill, currently awaiting parliamentary debate, seeks to regularise 470,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived before the end of December 2024.
The primary objective is not humanitarian (though that is an outcome), but economic. Madrid aims to support sustained economic growth and shore up the country’s strained pension system by expanding the formal tax and labour base.
Migration: The Engine of Spanish Growth
The data leaves little doubt about migration’s indispensable role in the Spanish economy:
- Workforce Share: Migrants currently account for 13.5% of the Spanish workforce.
- Job Creation: Foreign workers filled an astounding 40% of all new jobs created in 2024, particularly in sectors facing critical shortages such as construction, agriculture, and healthcare.
- Economic Contribution: As sociologist Claudia Finotelli notes, between 2022 and 2024, 75% of the 5.2 million new jobs created were held by people with dual nationality or foreigners.
This strategy directly tackles the labour shortage and ageing population crisis that affects the entire EU, where the working-age population is shrinking by one million people annually. The European Central Bank has affirmed this reality, noting that 50% of the jobs created in the EU in recent years were thanks to migrants.
From Informal Economy to Formal Asset
The new regularisation policy is crucial for tapping into the existing, yet underutilized, talent pool within Spain. Andrés Gaviria, President of the immigrant support association AESCO, highlights that many Latin American arrivals, who make up the majority of their beneficiaries, come with university degrees.
Currently, the process for undocumented migrants to gain legal documents can take anywhere from two to seven years, forcing many into the informal economy. Speeding up this process, as the new reform intends, will achieve several key benefits:
- Tax Revenue: Previous regularisation programs, such as Spain’s 2005 initiative, demonstrated immediate financial returns, bringing in an estimated €4,000 in social security revenue per migrant.
- Labour Force Quality: It allows qualified individuals to move out of odd jobs and into sectors where their skills are desperately needed, effectively transforming a grey market liability into a formal, tax-paying asset.
- Social Stability: Granting legal status allows families, like Lorena Flechas’s from Colombia, to secure their children’s future with better education and stability, fulfilling the very “dream” that drew them to Spain.
A Model for Europe?
While Spain’s approach stands in stark contrast to the dominant EU strategy, which heavily emphasizes border control and deportation, it may be a harbinger of things to come. Professor Finotelli points out that similar measures have quietly been adopted by other EU nations, including Portugal, Italy, and Germany, reflecting a quiet pragmatic shift away from punitive measures.
The economic argument is increasingly undeniable: migration is an essential driver of economic growth in an era of demographic decline, especially as the large baby boomer generation nears retirement.
Spain is not merely demonstrating compassion; it is making a calculated economic choice. By integrating its undocumented population, Madrid is securing a long-term competitive advantage, turning a humanitarian challenge into a powerful fiscal and labour solution. The rest of Europe, focused on containing the flow, may soon be forced to follow Spain’s lead to sustain its own economies.
