Spain’s Supreme Court has quietly rewritten large sections of the country’s 2024 Immigration Regulation, issuing a landmark ruling on 17 July 2026 that will reshape how companies, foreign professionals and family members obtain legal status in Spain. The decision comes less than a fortnight after the deadline for Spain’s extraordinary mass-regularisation programme, which drew more than one million applications from undocumented migrants. The 62-page judgment strikes out five controversial provisions of Royal Decree 1155/2024. Among the headline changes is the end of an outright ban on temporary-employment agencies hiring non-EU nationals for seasonal work. Staffing firms—from harvest contractors in Huelva to tech outsourcers in Barcelona—may once again sponsor work permits, removing what industry groups had branded “a handbrake on labour flexibility.” Equally significant is the Court’s insistence that residence permits cannot be refused automatically on the basis of any criminal record. Immigration officials must now perform a proportionality test, weighing the severity and recency of an offence against an applicant’s family situation and ties to Spain. Legal advisers say this will spare multinationals the uncertainty of seeing intra-company transfers derailed because of minor historical infractions. Family-reunification rules are also relaxed. The ruling confirms that certain relatives of Spanish citizens will still need entry visas, but it abolishes a clause that required all guardianship or child-protection arrangements to be created under Spanish law. Foreign court decisions will now be recognised, smoothing paths for expatriates who have adopted or fostered children abroad. Finally, the Court struck down the obligation for many migrants to communicate exclusively via electronic means—a relief for older applicants and those in low-connectivity areas. In practice, companies should revisit template assignment letters and compliance checklists immediately. Applications pending a decision can invoke the ruling, and new forms reflecting the changes are expected from the Ministry of Inclusion within weeks. Although the government may try to re-legislate some provisions, lawyers believe most of the Court’s reasoning—especially on proportionality—will endure, bringing Spain’s system closer to EU free-movement jurisprudence and to the business-friendly regimes of Portugal and Ireland.
Source: The Local Spain
