In short: Spain's Supreme Court (Administrative Chamber) issued a ruling, announced on 13 July 2026, that strikes down several specific articles of the Immigration Regulation approved by Royal Decree 1155/2024, of 19 November — following a challenge filed by migrant-rights organisations — while upholding the regulation's overall structure.
What the Supreme Court struck down:
- Minors: annuls the restriction that blocked access to residence authorisations linked to a minor's prior marriage, calling it "contrary to the best interests of the child"; also annuls restrictions tied to justified departures from Spain by minors born in Spain, and declares illegal the rule that softened public authorities' duty to provide immediate care to unaccompanied foreign minors. It also strikes the requirement that guardianships established abroad had to comply with Spanish law (arts. 94.1.f and 160.2). For minor children on temporary protection, see residence permit for a child (EX-25).
- Criminal records: annuls the clauses of arts. 97.4 and 98.1 that set automatic denial for criminal records in the residence of family members of Spanish citizens, and only in the cases covered by art. 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (Union citizenship). In those cases authorities must carry out an individualised assessment of each case. The ruling does not annul the criminal-record rules of other authorisations, such as arraigo. With temporary protection, see family member of a Spanish citizen (EX-24).
- Temporary work agencies (ETTs): annuls the ban on their participation in hiring seasonal foreign workers, for lacking "sufficient legal basis".
- Electronic filing: declares illegal the requirement to deal with the administration exclusively through electronic means, without proving that all affected people have the capacity to do so.
What the Supreme Court upheld: it confirms the new restrictions on arraigo for international-protection (asylum) applicants, the new regime for family members of Spanish nationals (in general terms, without the clauses annulled above), and the visa requirement for certain family members. The press release consulted does not give the judgment number: it is no. 868/2026 (case 19/2025), published in the BOE of 22 September 2026.
What does this mean in practice? The Immigration Regulation (RD 1155/2024) remains in force as a whole; only the annulled points above lose effect. The operative part of the ruling was published in the BOE on 22 September 2026, and the consolidated text of RD 1155/2024 already marks them as null. This does not create a new procedure for anyone: it is a judicial correction of an existing rule. If your residence application as a family member of a Spanish citizen was automatically denied over criminal records (only in the cases covered by art. 20 TFEU), or you were required to use only electronic means, this may be relevant to your case. Check with a professional.
Official source: Supreme Court press release (CGPJ), 13 July 2026. Text of the ruling: BOE-A-2026-19632.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.
