Spain’s 2026 migrant-regularisation decree—under which 1.17 million undocumented residents have applied for legal status—faces a complex legal battle after several regional governments asked the Supreme Court to review its compatibility with the 2024 EU Migration and Asylum Pact. On Saturday the State Attorney-General’s Office filed a 56-page brief urging the Supreme Court not to send a preliminary question to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). The brief argues that member states retain sovereignty to grant extraordinary regularisations and that the Spanish decree’s cut-off date of 1 January 2026 prevents any “pull factor” feared in Brussels. The challenge focuses on two additional provisions that allow residence on humanitarian grounds for failed asylum-seekers and automatically suspend expulsion orders. Critics—including the governments of Aragón and the Madrid region—say the clauses breach EU border-control rules and could incentivise new irregular arrivals. If the Supreme Court presses ahead with an EU referral, the regularisation process could be frozen for up to 18 months, creating uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of applicants who have already received provisional work permits. HR teams employing newly regularised workers should therefore document contracts carefully and prepare contingency plans for visa renewals should the decree be struck down or amended.
Source: El País Exprés
