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The Asylum Act does not provide for a specific procedure for subsequent applications and does not set a limit number of asylum applications per person.
When the OAR receives the new asylum claim, in practice, the second application submitted by the same applicant will not be deemed admissible in the first admissibility phase if it does not present new elements to the case.
Being considered as new asylum claim, and not as a subsequent application, the applicant will have the same rights as any other first-time asylum applicant, including the right not to be removed from Spanish territory. Consequently, the person is allowed on the territory until they receive a response on the admissibility of their file and the correspondent timing during the available appeals foreseen under the Asylum Act, which is when the lawyer asks for precautionary measures to be taken to avoid the removal.
According to Eurostat, 3,245 subsequent applications were presented in Spain in 2021, 1,805 in 2022, and 1,965 in 2023.[1]
Usually, people that are beneficiaries of protection in other EU Member States (as often happens for beneficiaries of international protection coming from Italy) do not apply for asylum in Spain. A solution for regularisation is instead often found via the Immigration Law. It should be noted, however, that such a situation is registered in a very limited number of cases.
Before the Taliban takeover, Afghans nationals were often denied asylum in Spain. After the evacuation, Afghans already living in Spain started receiving some form of international protection (most commonly subsidiary protection). Those arrived through the evacuation operation, are in general receiving refugee status.[2] In addition, Afghans are now arriving through the application of Article 38 of the Asylum Law, that allows them to apply for asylum at embassies and consulates, and they are receiving refugee status.
[1] Eurostat, migr_asyappctza.
[2] Information provided by Accem’s legal service on April 2024.