The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday two draft laws to reform the Immigration Law and implement a new Asylum Law with the aim of adapting Spanish regulations to the European legal framework after the approval of the Community Pact on Migration and Asylum, which came into force on June 12.
This was announced by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, at the press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the first of the new political year after the end of the Prime Minister’s holidays at the La Mareta Palace in Lanzarote.
Marlaska explained that the first of the draft bills «articulates a new asylum law», while the second draft reforms the so-called Immigration Law. These new texts will be adapted to the European Pact on Migration and Asylum approved in April and May 2024 by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
ASYLUM LAW
The main objective of the new asylum law is to speed up the process of processing applications for international protection, which according to data provided by the Interior Ministry have gone from 3,000 in 2009 to 167,000 in 2024 and 144,000 in 2025.
According to the minister, the text pays special attention to vulnerable people, minors and «the maintenance of family unity». Among the main novelties is the creation of a representative figure for unprotected minors who request international protection and «clarifies aspects such as guardianship, search for relatives and presumption of minority while the evaluation is being carried out.»
The regulation also sets the deadlines for carrying out different procedures, reducing the maximum period for resolving a file to three months. It also incorporates the border procedure provided for in Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 with a maximum period of 12 weeks, during which the applicant must remain in police facilities at the disposal of the Spanish authorities, before formal entry into the country is authorised.
According to the Interior Ministry, the draft bill orders in more detail how applications should be examined and regulates more precisely the reception of applicants, including attention to particular needs, schooling of minors, authorization to work, health care, material reception conditions and their possible reduction or withdrawal in certain cases.
IMMIGRATION LAW
Regarding the modification of the Immigration Law, the Government intends to incorporate a figure of «triage», «which is what we call the process of collecting information from foreigners who cross our borders without having been subjected to border entry controls,» explained the minister.
«This control includes a medical examination, a vulnerability examination, identification, the collection of biometric data, a security inspection and referral to the appropriate procedure in each of the cases. -Marlaska detailed- Triage is mandatory for member states and although the European Regulation sets a period of up to 7 days, in Spain it will continue to be 72 hours extendable only by judicial decision».
The minister indicated that «the reform we are promoting incorporates the precepts of the European Pact on Migration that prevent the entry into national territory of those people who arrive irregularly at our borders and are not entitled to international protection, a procedure that has a maximum processing period of 12 weeks».
The regulation also determines that applicants for international protection will not be entitled to obtain a residence permit in the event that that person «incurs in any of the legal figures that would make him or her entitled to a denial of entry or a return order.»
According to the Minister of the Interior, the Government intends to talk «with all parliamentary groups» so that these immigration policies – «which are State policies», he said – «obtain the greatest political and social consensus».
