Spain to grant residency and work permits to around 300,000 undocumented migrants per year

The policy will come into effect next May and aims to expand the country’s aging workforce.

Transcript

00:00Spain has announced a reform to its migration policy, which will grant residency and work

00:06permits to about 300,000 undocumented migrants each year for the next three years.

00:13The reform will simplify work and residence permit procedures, allowing migrants to register

00:19as self-employed or salaried workers and granting them additional labor rights.

00:25The reform will open doors that were previously closed with three keys, namely training, employment

00:31and family. These three keys will lead us to inclusion, but they will be very demanding

00:38with legal requirements and exquisite with human rights.

00:43The policy will come into effect from May 2025 and is part of the country's efforts

00:48to expand its labor force in the face of an aging population.

00:54Spain needs around 250,000 registered foreign workers a year to maintain its welfare state

01:00and it's one of the European countries that receives the most irregular migrants annually.

01:07Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has often described his government's migration

01:11policies as a strategy to combat the country's low birth rate.