Overview
- Spain put a royal decree into force that grants residence papers to large numbers of undocumented migrants, with reports ranging from about 500,000 to as many as 800,000 people.
- Applicants no longer need a job contract and must prove at least five months of residence before January 1, 2026, and Spain’s Council of State added a requirement for a clean criminal record from the country of origin.
- Because a Spanish residence card allows travel across the passport‑free Schengen zone, experts warn the policy could shift movement patterns even though it does not grant a right to settle in other states.
- French politicians from the right have called for tighter controls on the border with Spain, and one immigration researcher said France is likely to feel the effects first.
- Reporters and a local rail worker near the Franco‑Spanish frontier described recent arrivals of groups of 50 to 60 people at night, while analysts question how Spain will verify hundreds of thousands of foreign criminal‑record certificates.