Spain's extraordinary regularisation programme opens for applications

Spain’s Council of Ministers approved Royal Decree 316/2026 on April 14, opening an extraordinary regularisation process for undocumented residents. Online applications opened April 16, with in-person filing beginning April 20. The deadline for applications is June 30, 2026.

Why this matters: Up to 500,000 people in Spain may be eligible for legal status through this process. Applicants receive provisional work authorisation from the moment their application is accepted, immediately expanding the legal workforce. For remote workers and employers in Spain, this could affect the broader immigration processing system — immigration office staff unions have called a strike from April 21 over the expected workload surge, which may delay processing of other applications including digital nomad visa renewals.

Applicants must demonstrate continuous residence in Spain since before January 1, 2025, with at least 5 months of continuous residence and a clean criminal record. The programme is the largest immigration regularisation in Spain since 2005.

For more on Spain’s immigration landscape, see our Spain Digital Nomad Visa guide.