Does legalizing migrants pay?

Immigration now decides elections across Europe. In 2026, Spain chose a policy that most governments avoid: it offered legal status and work permits to people who already lived in the country without permission. More than 1.1 million people applied. Spain has done this once before, in 2005. Joan Monràs studied what happened next to migration flows, to public finances, to native workers and to the migrants themselves. Lídia Farré studies who Spain's migrants are and the work they do. She also ...