Germany
New obligation for employers
On 1 January 2026, Section 45c of the Residence Act became effective. Employers must now inform their skilled workers from third countries about the free advisory service from “Fair Integration” on employment and social law issues.
This notification must be given no later than the first day of work, and it must include the contact details of the advisory centre nearest to the workplace.
For this purpose, Fair Integration has created a leaflet for employers in German and information for employees in various languages, including German, English, Arabic, Turkish, Ukrainian and Russian.
Employers hiring a third-country national skilled worker after 1 January 2026 should download the information leaflet for employees in the appropriate language from the Fair Integration website, tick the advisory location that is closest to the company on the list, and give the leaflet to the new employee, who can confirm notice with their signature.
If the foreign skilled worker was recruited through a placement agency, this requirement does not apply to the employer, but to the agency.
Fair Integration is a nationwide, free, multilingual advisory service for third-country nationals. The advisory service is aimed both at third-country nationals who are already in Germany and third-country nationals abroad who would like to work in Germany.
Topics for advice may include, among others:
- employment contract
- wage, minimum wage
- working hours, vacation, sick leave
- warnings, termination
- temporary work, seasonal work
- social security (health, pension, accident insurance, etc.)
- rights and obligations of employees and employers.
Iceland
Proposed amendments to the Aliens Act
The government has published planned amendments to the provisions of the Aliens Act concerning the issuance of residence permits and their basic conditions, as part of a full review of the residence permit regulatory framework.
According to the government, the aims of the proposed changes are:
- to increase the importance of security factors when processing applications for residence permits; and
- to harmonise legal requirements and implementation with the legislation of the other Nordic countries and eliminate specific Icelandic rules in the family reunification category;
Changes are also planned to the provisions of residence permits for victims of human trafficking.
It is proposed that two new residence permit categories be introduced:
- a temporary residence permit for victims of serious labour market violations; and
- a special residence permit for students staying in Iceland in connection with the authorities’ development cooperation projects.
It is also planned to amend Article 90 of the Act to meet the requirements of Article 10(3) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1157, which stipulates that biometric information collected for the issuance of identity cards or residence documents be kept in a highly secure manner and only until the date of collection of the document and, in any case, no longer than 90 days from the date of issue. After this period, these biometric identifiers must be immediately erased or destroyed.
The government invites comments on these proposals until 6 February 2026.
Spain
Government invites comments on regularization plan
On 27 January 2026, the Council of Ministers approved an extraordinary regularization process and invited public comment on the measure.
The text of the draft Royal Decree amending Royal Decree 1155/2024 aims to regularize the immigration status of an estimated 500,000 foreign nationals currently in Spain.
The regularization process will be open to all foreign nationals who were in Spain before 31 December 2025, and who can prove they have resided continuously in the country for at least five months at the time of application. This can be demonstrated with any public or private document, or a combination of both. For applicants for international protection, it is sufficient that the application was submitted before 31 December 2025.
Applicants must not have a criminal record or pose a threat to public order.
Those who participate in this process and demonstrate compliance with the requirements will be eligible for a residence permit, with permission to work in any sector, anywhere in Spain, with an initial validity of one year. After this period, they must apply for the standard residency statuses provided for in the Immigration Regulations, which allow for full and gradual integration into the system.
The processing time will be a maximum of three months, but applicants can begin working from the moment the authorities accept the application – within a maximum of 15 days.
The process will also allow for the simultaneous regularization of minor children of applicants who are already in Spain, with a five-year permit.
Applications are expected to be accepted from early April 2026, once the required procedures for processing the Royal Decree have been completed, and the process will be open until 30 June 2026.
