Spain’s bold immigration gamble just saw 1.2 million people apply for legal status in under three months — and the political fallout is already kicking off.

So, it turns out more than a million undocumented migrants made a dash to get legal in Spain before the cut-off date at the end of June, according to cbinews.tv.

The Socialist government kicked off this mass regularisation scheme back in April, right as most of Europe started clamping down on irregular immigration thanks to pressure from far-right parties. Bit of a contrast, eh?

Here’s the breakdown of who applied:

- Latin America topped the list, making up 67% of all submissions.

- African nationalities came next with 22.9%.

- Most of them are young — 8 out of 10 applicants are under 45.

- And it’s mostly men, with 57% of the total applications.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is backing the move hard. He reckons Spain actually *needs* immigration to keep the economy afloat and support its ageing population. His exact words? “Without immigration, Spain would lose 19 per cent of its GDP by 2050.”

Unsurprisingly, not everyone’s cheering. The conservative and far-right opposition have slammed the programme, arguing it’ll just encourage more irregular immigration.

To even apply, people had to prove they had a clean criminal record and had been living in Spain for at least five consecutive months before 1 January this year.

Officials now have three months to sort through the paperwork. If approved, applicants get a work and residence permit — but it’s only valid in Spain.

Source: cbinews.tv

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