Author
Up until 2020, applications for international protection could not be lodged at Spanish embassies or consular representations, even though Article 38 of the Asylum Law foresaw that possibility. This was due to the absence of a Regulation to the 2009 Asylum Law. As a consequence, the 1995 Regulation to the previous Spanish Asylum Law, not foreseeing the possibility to apply for international protection at embassies or consulates, was applied.[1]
In a landmark judgement of October 2020, the Supreme Court finally clarified that the loophole resulting from the lack of an updated Regulation should not limit the exercise of the right to apply for international protection at Spanish Embassies and Consulates.[2] The Court specified that Ambassadors and Consuls have the duty to assess whether the applicant’s safety is at risk, in which case they must be transferred to Spain.[3] Thus, the judgement overturned previous practices and officially recognised the right to apply for asylum at embassies and consulates. For more than two years following the Court’s decision, no information was made available as to whether persons in need of international protection were able to apply for asylum at Embassies and Consulates.
According to Accem’s knowledge, more recently, persons in need of international protection have been admitted to submit their application at Spanish Embassies and Consulates. This particularly applies to Afghan refugees who submit their applications at the Spanish embassies in Pakistan and Iran, and there have been also some cases of Afghans applying at the Spanish embassy in Türkiye. As far as Accem is aware, the demand is high, but no official data on the number of applications presented in such manner is available. In March 2024, Accem started a pro bono project together with a law firm to provide legal support to persons applying at Spanish embassies, especially Afghans applying for asylum at Spanish Embassies and Consulates in Pakistan and Iran. However, the use of the embassy procedure is currently not clearly regulated.
Despite the CJEU judgement establishing that the fact of being an Afghan woman is sufficient to prove the well-founded fear of persecution, the Spanish Government denied at least a dozen of applications for the ‘laissez-passer’, that is the authorisation to access the territory from Islamabad to reach Spain, in order to be able to formally apply for asylum, according to reports.[4]
In January 2024, the political party ‘Sumar’ submitted a law proposal on access to asylum and the lodging of international protection applications at Spanish embassies and consulates.[5] The proposal foresees, inter alia, a modification of Article 38 of the Asylum Law, by detailing how to lodge an asylum application at Spanish Embassies and consulates abroad, which are the rights of the asylum applications, as well as the obligations of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Basically, the proposal introduces the development of such procedure that, according to Article 38, should have been introduced by the Regulation of the Asylum Law that has not been adopted so far since 2009.
In March 2025, the State-Secretary for Security at the Ministry of Interior issued an instruction providing indications on different aspected related to international protection procedures. Among other elements, the instruction provides for the adoption of measures to allow applicants with special needs or in a vulnerable situation (i.e. persons with disabilities, elderly people, pregnant women, single parents, victims of trafficking, LGTBIQ+ persons, mental health issues, victims of torture or of sexual assault) to be interviewed with particular attention to adapting their individual circumstance. Similarly, it contains details on interpretation and legal support, on the adequacy of spaces to carry out interviews, and it allows the applicant to be assisted in the formalisation by a cultural mediator or psychological support during the interview.[6]
In relation to the statelessness determination procedure, UNHCR observed delays in 2024, due to staff fluctuations at the Office for Asylum, affecting file processing and timely data publication. UNHCR facilitated and supported the participation of the Office for Asylum in training activities on statelessness in Spain and Europe. The 70th anniversary of the 1954 Statelessness Convention was commemorated with active participation from the Government, enabling a shared diagnostic exercise. The Spanish Coalition for Stateless Displacements, supported by UNHCR, was consolidated, uniting NGOs working with stateless persons and applicants.[7]
[1] For an analysis of the previous practice on this regard, as well as relevant jurisprudence such as the N.D. and N.T.v.Spain judgement of the ECtHR, refer to the previous version of this report, available here, 17.
[2] Supreme Court, Sala de lo Contencioso, STS 3445/2020, 15 October 2020, available here.
[3] El Diario, ‘El Supremo reconoce el derecho a pedir asilo en las embajadas en contra del criterio del Gobierno’, 18 November 2020, available here.
[4] El Periódico, ‘España niega salvoconductos a mujeres en riesgo de deportación a Afganistán desoyendo una sentencia europea’, 4 February 2025, available here.
[5] Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales, Congreso de los Diputados, ‘Proposición de Ley sobre acceso al derecho de asilo y solicitudes de protección internacional en embajadas y consulados. Presentada por el Grupo Parlamentario Plurinacional SUMAR’, 19 January 2024, available here.
[6] Ministerio del Interior, ‘instrucción de la Secretaría de Estado de Seguridad y de la Subsecretaría sobre el procedimiento de protección internacional’, 14 March 2025, available here.
[7] Information provided by UNHCR in March 2025.