Spain will grant residency and work permits to about 300,000 migrants in the country illegally each year for the next three years.

The government said new rules could give legal status — and work permits — to about 300,000 people a year over the next three years to address gaps in the labor market.

Spain has announced plans to legalize up to 300,000 undocumented migrants per year over the next three years, a move aimed at addressing labor shorta

Spain has massive labor problems and hundreds of thousands of irregular migrants. The Prime Minister has taken the unusual step of combining these issues.

The policy, due to run from May next year until 2027, comes at a time that many European countries are seeking to limit or deter migration.

Spain's new immigration rules will allow for the regularisation of some 300,000 undocumented migrants per year over the next three years as the country seeks to expand its labour force, Migration Minister Elma Saiz told reporters on Tuesday.

Spain's left-wing government on Tuesday announced an immigration law reform regularising tens of thousands more migrants per year, in a fresh contrast to harsher policies elsewhere in Europe.

Spain will grant residency and work permits each year for the next three years to about 300,000 migrants who are in the country illegally.