BARCELONA: Spain’s government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies seen in the United States and much of Europe. Spain’s Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz, announced the extraordinary measure following the weekly cabinet meeting.

Move affecting those who have been in Spain five months or more runs counter to anti-migration policies across Europe

The process will be available to foreign nationals without a criminal record who can prove they lived in Spain for five months prior to 31 December 2025.