Migrants face 5 hours queues at citizen offices as regularisation process opens

Long queues formed on the morning of Thursday, April 16, outside Barcelona's Citizen Attention Offices, where migrants waited up to five hours to access essential paperwork linked to Spain's newly launched extraordinary regularisation process.

Dozens of people arrived without appointments, rushing to secure documents required to complete applications under the government's new procedure, which opened this week.

The scheme is aimed at people in an irregular administrative situation and is expected to benefit hundreds of thousands of applicants across Spain.

Among those waiting in line were Keni, originally from Honduras; Irma, from Argentina; and César, from Colombia. All three were seeking documents needed to advance their regularisation files.

César, civil engineer, arrived in Barcelona after living in Almería and Madrid. He said he had been waiting for nearly four hours by midday.

"I started the line at 9:30 a.m., it's now noon, but it's moving and getting faster,"  he said while waiting for a required stamp on his vulnerability report. His application is being handled with legal assistance, and he hopes the new status will improve his employment prospects.

Irma arrived in Barcelona in early 2025 and initially applied for residency in May, but was rejected in August and ordered to leave Spain within 15 days.

Under the new framework, she has been told she now needs to provide a criminal record certificate and an updated registration of residence.

"I arrived at 10:15 a.m., they still haven't seen me, and it's 1:10 p.m. now," she said, adding that she still had questions about completing the process online.

Keni, 40, already holds a Spanish NIE but is trying to regularise the situation of her two children, who do not yet have residency status despite the family living in Barcelona for three years.

"We need the certificate of cohabitation to take advantage of this opportunity and legalize my two children," she said.

The surge in demand comes as Spain begins implementing its extraordinary regularisation plan, which grants temporary residence and work permits to eligible applicants who can prove they have been living in the country and meet other requirements, including a clean criminal record.

The application process officially opened online on April 16, while in-person assistance is expected to open on April 20. 

Barcelona city council is awaiting detailed instructions from the Spanish inclusion, social security and migration ministry before fully rolling out procedures through its service network. 

In the meantime, the city's immigrant support service has launched an online registration form to manage demand and provide initial guidance to applicants.

Once official guidelines are published, applicants will receive instructions by email on how to proceed, including how to book appointments and access legal support where needed. 

Officials also said that some documents, such as vulnerability reports, will be issued automatically for eligible individuals already in contact with social services, while others will be guided through the process after submitting their details online.