The Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR) has denounced in a new report that at least 218,000 asylum applicants are still waiting for a response on their status, despite reported improvements.
The Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR) has denounced that at least 218,731 people are still waiting for a decision on their asylum application in Spain, even though in 2025 the number of resolutions increased by 67 percent to 160,663, the highest figure since 1992.
The data was published in the report 'Mas que cifras 2025', according to which pending asylum applications only registered a slight decrease last year.
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Sharp change recorded last year compared to 2024
According to CEAR, the result was mainly due to the "automation" process concerning applications from some nationalities (Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso), with the risk that decisions are not based on individual cases.
The Commission said it fears that this trend could imply that applicants exposed to grave threats in their country of origin fail to obtain asylum status.
The report noted that the asylum approval rate decreased by seven points in 2025 compared to 2024, with a "sharp inversion of the trend from the improvement registered the previous year," when it was 18.5 percent, and Spain was already "at the tail end of the European Union in the recognition of asylum rights."
Meanwhile, negative decisions on asylum status increased by 77 percent, reaching 42.5 percent of the total.
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More asylum requests from citizens of Venezuela and Mali in 2025
New asylum requests in 2025 went down by 14 percent, a figure CEAR connects to the reform of immigration regulations, which penalize individuals whose asylum request has been rejected, and the externalization of borders.
Meanwhile, last year, asylum applications filed by citizens of Venezuela and Mali increased significantly, respectively by 29 percent and 50 percent. This was due respectively to the migration policies of the new US administration and the worsening conflict in the African country.
In this context, CEAR said it considers the extraordinary regularization of about half a million migrants announced by the Spanish government as an "opportunity," which could reduce irregularity while also safeguarding people who potentially need international protection.