The Spanish government has clarified that knowledge of Catalan or other official languages will not be a mandatory requirement for obtaining initial residency in its upcoming extraordinary regularisation of immigrants. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration confirmed this position, following a proposal from the Catalan government to include language learning as a factor in the process.

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The landmark regularisation scheme aims to provide residency and work authorisation to an estimated 500,000 foreign nationals, including around 150,000 in Catalonia, who have been living in Spain without proper documentation. To be eligible, applicants must have been registered as a resident (empadronado) in the country before 31 December 2023 and have no criminal record.

The debate over language requirements arose after the Generalitat de Catalunya submitted amendments to the draft Royal Decree. The Catalan government proposed that the learning of Catalan should be considered when immigrants apply to renew their residency permits after the first year. However, this proposal was misinterpreted in some political circles as a mandatory requirement for the initial application, sparking a heated political row.

A Point of Clarification

Sources within the Ministry of Inclusion, headed by Elma Saiz, moved to quell the controversy, emphasising the distinction between the initial permit and subsequent renewals. In a statement reported by VilaWeb, the ministry stated that none of the accepted contributions to the draft decree “include the obligation to know any official language to receive the initial authorisation of residence and work.”

The ministry explained that the draft text is still undergoing a lengthy approval process. It must first be reviewed by key institutions, including the Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants (FISI) and the Spanish Council of State, before being finalised.

“The text has to go through several phases,” a ministry source told Ara Cat, stressing that the current version is not definitive.

Integration Reports and Renewals

While language proficiency will not be a barrier to initial regularisation, it may play a role later. After the first year, individuals can either transition to other residency pathways provided for in Spain’s immigration law (Ley de Extranjería) or apply to extend their initial permit.

For this extension, regional authorities like the Generalitat can issue a favourable “integration report.” These reports, produced by social services, are designed to assess an individual’s level of integration into society. The ministry confirmed that these reports will consider efforts to learn the official languages of the territory, such as Catalan, as a positive factor.

However, officials were quick to point out that this is consistent with existing regulations for other residency types, such as arrelament social (residency through social roots). In these cases, linguistic knowledge is just one element among many used to evaluate integration and is not an indispensable requirement for securing a permit.

Political Backlash

The ministry’s clarification came after the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, threatened legal action based on a misreading of the Catalan proposal. In a post on X, Ayuso announced she would challenge the Spanish government in court over what she termed an “illegal” and “xenophobic” plan.

“Pedro Sánchez’s intention in Catalonia to make language a requirement for accepting immigrants or not is illegal… The Community of Madrid will take the necessary steps in the courts against Sánchez to prevent this illegal occurrence which, moreover, is xenophobic,” she wrote.

Ayuso’s statement overlooked the fact that the Generalitat’s proposal was for the renewal stage, not the initial regularisation, and suggested evaluating language learning rather than demanding fluency. The original proposal itself stemmed from recommendations within the multi-party Pacte Nacional per la Llengua (National Pact for the Language), which seeks to promote the use of Catalan.

The government’s definitive stance seeks to streamline a complex administrative process for hundreds of thousands of people while reaffirming that social integration, including language acquisition, remains a long-term goal supported through existing legal frameworks.

According to the official source, see El Gobierno sube a audiencia pública el texto de la regularización extraordinaria para integrar a personas extranjeras que ya están en España – Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones.