The Government has approved this Tuesday in the first round a new asylum law and a reform of the Immigration Law that will modify the procedures for identifying those who arrive irregularly in Spain, processing applications for international protection, and executing the returns of those who do not have the right to remain in the country.
The two draft bills seek to adapt Spanish legislation to the European Pact on Migration and Asylum and will now have to go through the corresponding advisory bodies before returning to the Council of Ministers and being sent to the Cortes.
The Government spokesperson and Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has announced the approval of the two texts after the meeting of the Council of Ministers. The Annual Regulatory Plan of the Executive already contemplated for 2026 a new Regulatory Law on International Protection aimed at adapting Spanish legislation to the new European framework.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has argued that the reform will allow for the acceleration of procedures without reducing the guarantees for applicants. The Executive proposes, as he has explained, a "more agile, efficient, orderly and, of course, guaranteeing" system.
A new border procedure of up to 12 weeks
One of the main changes will occur in the processing of applications for international protection. The future law will differentiate an ordinary procedure, an accelerated one, and a specific border procedure.
This last one will have a maximum resolution period of 12 weeks, during which the applicant must remain available to the Spanish authorities.
Marlaska has defended that this mechanism does not mean leaving international protection applications unprocessed. The objective, according to the Interior, is to establish "shorter times" but "without any detriment to fundamental rights and freedoms".
The new law will also update the definitions of international protection, refugee status, and subsidiary protection. Among the circumstances that must be taken into account, persecution related to gender, gender identity or expression, and disability are expressly included, in addition to specific treatment of certain vulnerability situations.
Mandatory triage for those who cross the border irregularly
The reform of the Immigration Law introduces another of the central pieces of the new European model: the triage of people entering Spain without having gone through the corresponding border controls.
This procedure will include, as detailed by Marlaska, a medical examination, an assessment of possible vulnerabilities, the identification of the person, the collection of biometric data, a security inspection, and their subsequent referral to the corresponding procedure.
The triage is mandatory for member states under the new European framework. However, Spain intends to maintain a period shorter than the community maximum.
While the European regulation allows that process to last up to seven days, the Government sets a maximum of 72 hours for Spain.
The Interior justifies this reduction by the need to limit "to the minimum necessary" the period during which a person must remain in the designated police facilities.
Return for those who do not have the right to protection
The modification of Immigration will also regulate the border return procedure provided in the European Pact.
This mechanism will affect people who arrive irregularly at the Spanish borders and who, once their situation is examined, do not have the right to obtain international protection or to enter national territory.
When an application for international protection is rejected, the person will receive along with the resolution the denial of entry and the obligation to leave Spain, according to the lines of the draft explained by the Interior.
The changes come amid the management of the migration crisis in Ceuta. The Government is now facing a phase focused, among other objectives, on repatriating those who do not have the right to remain in Spain and resolving the cases of those who apply for asylum, as explained this Tuesday by the first vice president, Carlos Cuerpo.
The texts have not yet reached Congress
The approval this Tuesday does not yet mean the approval of the bills or their submission to Parliament. The Council of Ministers has given the green light to the drafts in the first round.
The Executive must now gather the corresponding reports from bodies such as the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the Council of State, in addition to the Forum for the Social Integration of Immigrants and the State Council of NGOs.
After this process, the texts will have to return to the Council of Ministers for approval as draft laws before being sent to the Cortes Generales.
Marlaska has assured that the Government intends to complete this processing "as soon as possible" and has advanced that it will negotiate with "all" parliamentary groups to try to push the reforms forward.
The new framework responds to the application in Spain of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, composed of various community regulations and by Directive (EU) 2024/1346, of May 14, 2024, on the reception standards for applicants for international protection. The Annual Regulatory Plan for 2026 itself establishes as an objective of the new Spanish legislation to develop the matters of the Pact that are reserved for a norm with the rank of law.