BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain's government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization, the latest example of how the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies seen in the United States and much of Europe.

Spain's Minister of Migration, Elma Saiz, announced the extraordinary measure following the weekly cabinet meeting. She said her government will amend existing immigration laws by expedited decree to grant immigrants who are living in Spain without authorization legal residency of up to one year as well as permission to work.

The permits will apply to those who arrived in Spain before Dec. 31, 2025, and who can prove they have lived in Spain for at least five months. They must also prove they have no criminal record.

“Today is a historic day,” Saiz told journalists during a press conference. The measure could benefit between 500,000 and 800,000 people estimated by different organizations to be living in the shadows of Spanish society. Many are Latin American or African immigrants working in the agricultural, tourism or service sectors, backbones of Spain's growing economy.

The expedited decree bypasses a similar bill that has stalled in parliament. Saiz said she expects immigrants will be able to start applying for their legal status from April once the decree comes into force.

The Spanish government's move came as a surprise to many after a last-minute deal between the ruling Socialist Party and the left-wing Podemos party in exchange for parliamentary support to Prime Minister Pedro S nchez wobbly government.

The news was welcomed by hundreds of migrant rights groups and prominent Catholic associations who had campaigned and obtained 700,000 signatures for a similar initiative that was admitted for debate in Congress in 2024 but was unlikely to get enough votes to pass.

As other nations, many emboldened by the Trump administration, move to restrict immigration and asylum worldwide, Spain has taken the opposite direction with Prime Minister Pedro S nchez and his ministers often extolling the benefits of immigration to the economy.

The Iberian nation has taken in millions of people from South America and Africa in recent years, with the vast majority entering the country legally.