Strong opposition in Spain and Europe to the new decree law aimed at the mass regularisation of immigrants. In January 2026, Pedro Sánchez’s socialist government published a royal decree aimed at regularising illegal immigrants and those in an irregular situation residing in Spain. With this measure, the government expects to regularise an estimated 500,000 foreign nationals.

The problem lies in the different scenarios that have arisen from this measure. As the reader will be aware, Western Europe is in the midst of a demographic crisis that mainly encompasses two aspects: on the one hand, a worryingly low birth rate and, on the other, a worryingly high level of immigration from outside European culture.

The government’s stated objectives can be summarised as providing legal security for immigrants, allowing them to work legally, and increasing the state’s coffers with contributions from the “new” residents, commonly referred to as “people who will pay for the pensions of Spaniards” and who “come to do the jobs that Spaniards do not want to do”.

This discourse by the government, as well as by the political spectrum linked to the left and liberal economic sectors, has a dual purpose: on the one hand, to gain future voters through the favours of regularisation and subsequent naturalisation (which, in the case of Hispanic Americans, reduces the process to just two years); and on the other hand, to exert downward pressure on wages given the massive increase in job seekers, especially in unskilled sectors.

The Spanish government maintains that this is not a case of creating a ‘pull factor’, as this measure is limited to those already residing in Spain who have been there for five months or more by December 2025. but the reality is different, not only because the estimated data is being questioned, but also because, logically, news of the royal decree has spread around the world, especially in countries with a potential migrant population, which sees irregular immigration as a glimmer of hope for settling in Europe.

This is demonstrated, on the one hand, by a report from the National Police, which mentions that the decree law on mass regularisation ‘could benefit more than 1.2 million irregular immigrants’, i.e. more than double the estimates declared by the Spanish government, not to mention that this figure could double or even triple in the event of ‘family reunification processes’ bringing in relatives from their country of origin, as is commonly the case under Spanish law.

The government’s measure represents an enormous challenge and structural risk, as it could reconfigure Spain’s security, social cohesion and cultural identity at a time of maximum social and economic tension. Spain currently has the highest youth unemployment rate, is among the countries with the highest taxes on self-employed workers, has one of the most serious problems related to lack of access to housing, and its culture and identity are deteriorating as the foreign population increases.

Another very important aspect affecting citizens is the weakening of the welfare state. In the real conditions of the Spanish economy, as demonstrated by a detailed report by the Disenso Foundation, low-skilled immigration and its high dependence on public services generates a negative fiscal balance: the total taxes and contributions paid by these groups do not offset the expenditure they require in health, education, social housing and various benefits.

Furthermore, this impact is concentrated in certain communities and neighbourhoods, where schools, health centres and social services are overburdened, leading to a decline in quality for everyone. The result is a vicious circle: the more the system allocates to caring for newcomers first, the more the support of the middle and working classes for the welfare state itself, which is precisely what finances it, is eroded.

Far from ‘paying for Spanish pensions’, disorderly migration policy, disconnected from local values and culture, will ultimately further weaken Spain’s political, social and economic base, in contrast to a Europe that is already largely slowing down and rethinking the viability of mass immigration.