Spain’s Supreme Court has annulled a swathe of provisions in Royal Decree 1155/2024—the regulation that implements the country’s flagship Immigration Act—after upholding a challenge brought by human-rights NGOs. The ruling, issued on 8 July but published in the Official State Gazette on 22 September and reported by Heraldo on 23 September, immediately softens several residency and work-permit requirements. Among the most important changes, temporary-work agencies (ETTs) can once again sponsor seasonal workers, a practice the 2024 rule had virtually outlawed. The court also removed the requirement that family relationships be constituted under Spanish law, making it easier for non-EU residents to prove dependency or marriage ties formed abroad. Equally significant for employers is the scrapping of the blanket obligation to process all immigration formalities electronically; ministries must now justify any future move to mandatory e-filing. On the humanitarian side, the judgment widens protection for foreign minors born in Spain by allowing brief trips abroad without jeopardising their status and obliges authorities to provide immediate care when age is in doubt. Legal practitioners expect the decision to unclog backlogs in Spain’s overstretched Foreigners’ Offices as thousands of refused or stalled files are re-examined. Companies planning high-volume seasonal hiring—especially in agriculture and tourism—can again engage ETTs, although the Labour Inspectorate warns that compliance audits will intensify. The Interior Ministry has not ruled out drafting a revised decree but, under Spanish administrative law, the struck-down articles cannot be applied in the meantime. Mobility managers should review ongoing applications and prepare to resubmit dossiers that were rejected solely on the now-invalidated grounds.
Source: Heraldo
