Overview
- The extraordinary regularization window closed on Tuesday with the government reporting more than one million submissions and authorities saying they have up to three months to decide each case.
- The Spanish Supreme Court has opened a formal review of the decree, gave parties five days to respond, and may refer questions to the Court of Justice of the EU or suspend parts of the process pending an EU-law ruling.
- Operational bottlenecks surfaced during the drive: many applicants filed incomplete dossiers because they lacked criminal records or foreign documents, municipal social services in Catalunya issued over 60,000 vulnerability reports to support claims, and officials warn of backlogs in paperwork and TIE appointments.
- Independent data show eligibility concerns because about a third of applicants have lived in Spain less than one year and 62% less than two years, raising questions about the decree’s residence-duration requirement and the eventual number of beneficiaries.
- To manage follow-up the government launched a Plan de Integración y Ciudadanía with an initial €505 million and proposed an Agencia Estatal de Movilidad Humana to coordinate labour mobility, while the opposition accuses the executive of electoral motives and some EU partners have signalled unease.