Spain’s Plan to Fast-Track Migrant Citizenship

Spain’s Socialist government has officially admitted that it plans to regularize around one million illegal immigrants before the 2027 general elections.

According to a parliamentary response sent to the opposition People’s Party (PP), the new Immigration Regulation—in force since May—will allow for the processing of about 300,000 residence permits per year between 2025 and 2027.

The executive argues that the goal is to “promote integration” and “grant rights” to foreigners already living in Spain without documentation—a figure that currently exceeds 900,000 people. The regulation, promoted by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, shortens the period required for continuous residence in Spain from three to two years. It also broadens the criteria for regularization on social, family, labor, or educational grounds.

This means that, in just two years, Spain will face the largest immigration regularization in its recent history. Although the government claims it is doing this for the sake of “social justice,” the scale and timing—just before the 2027 elections—suggest that the real aim is to create a new pool of loyal voters for the Socialist Party.

The People’s Party denounced the “lack of transparency” and the absence of consensus with which the reform was carried out. In its parliamentary question, 15 PP deputies warned that the regulation “could trigger a pull effect” and “make it harder to control illegal immigration”—a criticism which is ironic given that the PP itself was among the political forces that previously supported similar regularization initiatives.

The mass regularization comes alongside a sharp increase in naturalizations by royal decree (carta de naturaleza)—an exceptional mechanism through which the government grants citizenship directly. Since 2020, such naturalizations have surged by 336%, making it the fastest route to obtain Spanish nationality.

Unlike ordinary procedures, naturalization by royal decree does not require a minimum period of residence or specific conditions. Its discretionary nature allows the government to decide who receives citizenship under “exceptional circumstances,” raising accusations of arbitrariness and political manipulation of the process.

Sources from the Ministry of Justice confirm that this practice has become a key tool for accelerating the regularizing of certain groups—and also a tactic with clear electoral aims. If the current trend continues, the number of new citizens with voting rights could comfortably exceed one million before 2030.