Migrants Rush to Apply Under Spain’s New Mass Legalization Program

Migrants in Spain on Monday began applying in person to legalize their status after the Southern European nation launched an amnesty measure that could affect hundreds of thousands of foreigners living and working in the country without authorization.

The program was announced in January and finalized this month. It offers immigrants without legal status a one-year, renewable residence permit if they have spent five months living in the country and have a clean criminal record. They have until the end of June to apply.

There have been questions about the short window to process what Spain’s government has said could include 500,000 migrants, and which Spanish think tank Funcas estimates is around 840,000 people.

Over 370 post offices opened their doors to applicants and the government has said they also can apply at 60 social security offices and a handful of migration offices. Online applications started last Thursday.

Applicants at post offices in the capital, Madrid, and Barcelona described a process without incident, though some criticized long wait times even with appointments.

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