Greece: new law improves residence permits for young migrants At the end of March, the Greek Parliament approved a new Migration Code that improves several protective measures for children and young people, including the creation of a 10-year residence permit for young adults who were unaccompanied children, if they have completed three years of secondary school before turning 23. The law also extends, from five to ten years, a permit for migrant children and young people who were born in Greece or have completed six years of secondary school before their 23rd birthday. However, Solidarity Now reports that conditions for undocumented migrants to obtain a residence permit if they have lived in Greece for at least seven years have become stricter, as any period in an asylum procedure no longer counts towards this time requirement. France: ombudsperson criticises digitisation of residence procedures The French Ombudsperson reported that complaints about violations of the fundamental rights of migrants increased by 231% between 2019 and 2022, with most of the difficulties related to access to prefectures to apply for or renew residence permits. Since 2019, appointments must be made online, but the sites are often overwhelmed. This has resulted in many people not being able to obtain an appointment for a first application or a renewal, leading to a "notable and worrying increase" in complaints from people who cannot renew their permits and are forced into irregular situations. The Ombudsperson has called on the government to restore normal access to public services in prefectures and address the issues arising from the digital system. Spain: study proves 2005 regularisation helped public finances In a research published in 2018 and updated in April 2023, three economists have analysed the consequences of the regularisation of 600,000 non-EU nationals in Spain in 2005. The main result of this research is that this policy did not lead to a pull effect, but rather encouraged current workers to leave the informal economy, by requiring people to have a contract of at least six months to be regularised. In the long term, the regularisation of undocumented workers did not lead to a reduction in wage levels and has been helpful for public finances.