This article uses Spanish data from two PISA waves from 2003 and 2006 to examine the educational and occupational aspirations of 15-year old students, comparing students with migrants parents to those with native-born parents (N = 28.635). Spain received a dramatic increase of new migrants during the period of the so-called ‘Economic Boom’ decade (1997-2007), which makes this country an interesting case to analyse the ambitions of ethnic minorities in a context of massive migration arrivals. Results show, in line with the aspiration-achievement paradox hypothesis, that minority students have higher educational and occupational aspirations than children from native origins, after accounting for their (lower) academic performance and (disadvantaged) socioeconomic background. Results show also that the years since arrival to the country increase the convergence with the aspirations of students with native-born parents, implying that acculturation and integration processes are channels by which ethnic minorities adequate their aspirations to the majority of the population, getting closer to their actual socioeconomic chances. Future analyses will exploit data on motivation and beliefs on school-work transitions to understand better ethnic differences in aspirations. This study contributes to policy debates on ethnic inequalities in occupational and educational chances in contemporary Western societies.