Spain wants to give 300,000 migrants a year residency rights

The Spanish government wants to issue residence and work permits to around 300,000 undocumented immigrants every year starting next May. The decision, explained by Migration Minister Elma Saiz on Wednesday, aims to increase the number of workers in the country. The country relies on workers from abroad to finance its welfare state, said the minister. The regulation should provisionally apply until 2027.

The decision is not only about cultural enrichment and respect for human rights, but also about prosperity. “Today we can say that Spain is a better country,” Saiz told Radiotelevisión Española. New procedures are intended to reduce the processing time for short- and long-term visas. Migrants should also be better protected from exploitation. A visa for job seekers, which was previously limited to three months, will now be valid for one year.

Spain is largely open to accepting migrants, even as other European countries try to close their borders to illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez often described his government’s migration policy as a way to combat the country’s low birth rate. In August, Sánchez visited three West African countries to curb irregular migration to the Canary Islands.

The Spanish economy is one of the fastest growing in the European Union this year. The development is partly attributed to immigration and the strong recovery of the tourism industry after the pandemic. It is not known how many foreigners live in Spain without valid residence documents.