Spain to legalise about 300,000 undocumented immigrants per year

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain will legalise about 300,000 undocumented immigrants per year over the next three years as it seeks to expand its labour force in the face of an ageing population, Migration Minister Elma Saiz told reporters on Tuesday.

Spain, led by a leftist minority coalition government, has been largely receptive to migrants even as other European countries such as Italy and Germany seek to tighten border controls.

"Spain has to opt between being an open, prosperous country or being a closed and poor one, and we have chosen the former," Saiz said, adding that the nation needs around 250,000 to 300,000 tax-paying foreign workers a year to sustain its welfare state.

The reform shortens and simplifies legal and administrative procedures for work and residence permits, allowing migrants to register either as self-employed or salaried workers, and provides them with additional labour rights guarantees.

Spain's economy is the fastest-growing in the EU, boosted in part by a wave of skilled immigrants from Latin America who have plugged labour shortages in sectors such as technology and hospitality. Gross domestic product expanded 3.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Fitch Ratings said net migration in 2022 surpassed that of the entire previous decade, helping to expand Spain's working-age population and to mitigate the effects of an ageing native-born population.

"The rise in the working-age population will moderate over 2024-2028 but still outpace peers, supporting growth prospects," Fitch said on Tuesday.

The reform also includes longer-term visas. Job seekers will have their visa extended from three to 12 months while those with a study visa could be allowed to work up to 30 hours per week.

According to a survey by 40dB for El Pais newspaper and Cadena Ser radio station conducted in October, 57% of Spaniards believe there is "too much" immigration, while 54% perceive that the proportion of migrants is higher than the official level of foreign-born residents in Spain of 18.5%.

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Charlie Devereux and Ros Russell)