MADRID (AP) — More than 1 million immigrants in Spain sought to legalize their status after the Southern European nation launched an initiative earlier this year to integrate foreigners living and working in the country without authorization.
The window to apply for the program, which was announced in January and kicked off in April, closed at the end of June.
It offered immigrants without legal status a one-year, renewable residence permit if they
have spent five months living in the country and have a clean criminal record.
Here's a look at the immigration measure by the numbers:
That's how many applications the Spanish government received from immigrants seeking work and residency permits under the temporary program.
The government originally estimated about 500,000 foreigners living in Spain without authorization could benefit, but think tanks and the Spanish police placed the estimate closer to a million people.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of Europe’s prominent progressive leaders, called the measure “an act of justice and a necessity,” arguing that people already living and working in Spain should “do so under equal conditions” and pay taxes.
The policy contrasts starkly with ratcheted-up deportation efforts taking place in other parts of the European Union and in the United States.
Spain's government said 608,781 applications were being processed, representing about half of all that were submitted.
The government's estimate of how many applicants were set to receive temporary residence and work permits as of mid June.
The final numbers will be higher, as the government has three months to process all applications submitted by June 30.
The share of applicants who are from Central and South America. The largest single group were Colombian nationals, who made up 26% of all applicants. Colombians are one of the largest immigrant groups in Spain, with upward of 980,000 Colombian-born nationals living in the country, according to the National Statistics Institute.
Moroccan nationals made up 13% of applicants, followed by Venezuelans at 11% and Peruvians at 9%, the government said.
Key sectors of the Spanish economy, including agriculture, tourism and the service sector, depend on immigrants from Latin America and Africa.
Immigration from Latin America has deeply shaped many of Spain's urban centers, and the Spanish government, experts and NGOs expected the program to mostly benefit Latin American immigrants without proper documentation.
Spanish residents who were born outside the country. Spain’s population has grown considerably in recent decades, with around 10 million people in the country of 50 million having been born elsewhere.
Many are from Colombia, Venezuela and Morocco, having fled violence or political instability, or seeking better economic opportunities.
The number of times Spain has previously undertaken mass legalization measures for immigrants living and working illegally in the country.
The first three times were under Socialist Party Prime Minister Felipe González starting in 1986, but conservative leader José Aznar's government also oversaw two such measures in the 2000s.
This time around, many more immigrants have applied. In the 2005 measure, the previous largest such instance, 576,500 immigrants had their status legalized. That invited intense public debate and scrutiny in the country.
