MADRID, Spain: Spain migrant regularisation drew 1,174,978 applications by the June 30 deadline, nearly double the government’s initial estimate, official figures showed.
The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said about 608,000 applications had been accepted for processing, Al Jazeera reported. Those applicants received provisional residency and work permits while awaiting final decisions. Only about 11,000 applications had received a favourable final resolution at the time of reporting.
The scheme opened in April and marked Spain’s first regularisation process since 2005. The government now has three months to resolve most of the submitted applications.
The Associated Press reported that Spain received 1,174,978 applications, far above the expected 500,000. It said the programme offered a one-year, renewable residence permit to eligible migrants.
La Moncloa said 159,097 additional people had registered with Social Security as of June 30 because of the regularisation process.
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Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has framed migration as an economic need for Spain’s ageing population. The quoted Sánchez as saying Spain’s gross domestic product would be 19% lower by 2050 without migration.
Advocates said the scale of applications showed how many migrants had lived for years without documents. Edith Espinola of the Active Domestic Workers’ Service Association told Al Jazeera that the number also showed a failure by the state to protect vulnerable people. 57% of applicants were men, most came from Latin America, and six in 10 were under 34.
