In recent days, a very significant change has become known for many Venezuelan people in Spain: the Government will stop systematically granting residence permits on humanitarian grounds which, since 2018, had served as a common route for people who applied for asylum and were denied. According to the published information, this change will start to apply from June 2026.
However, it is important to state this precisely. We are not looking at the disappearance of Article 37.b of the Asylum Law or the repeal of the humanitarian-grounds regime in the Immigration Regulations. The regulations currently in force still provide for temporary residence authorisation on humanitarian grounds for people whom the Interior Ministry authorises to remain in Spain under Articles 37.b) and 46.3 of Law 12/2009, and the Ministry’s official website continues to describe this authorisation as temporary residence renewable for one-year periods. What has been announced is, for now, a change in administrative criteria and general practice, not a formal suppression of that legal basis published in the BOE.
That is why the question is not only what will change for those who arrive from now on, but also what may happen to Venezuelan people who are already in Spain, who have already applied for asylum, who already have humanitarian grounds or who are trying to find another route to regularisation. And we must speak plainly here: not all situations are the same.
1. Venezuelan people whose asylum application is still being processed
If a Venezuelan person’s asylum application is still awaiting a decision, they remain an applicant for international protection for the time being. This matters greatly because the Immigration Regulations state that a person cannot apply for arraigo while they remain an applicant for international protection, nor, as a general rule, is the time spent in Spain during the processing of that application counted until a final decision has been issued through the administrative process and, where applicable, the courts.
This means it is not correct to say that anyone with an asylum application pending will automatically have a route through arraigo if they are later refused. It will depend on the procedural stage, the date of the final decision and the specific requirements of each route.
That said, there is an important nuance here. In January, the Government announced an extraordinary regularisation scheme for foreign nationals already living in Spain. According to official information released by La Moncloa, those who can prove at least five months of residence before 31 December 2025 and have no criminal record will be able to benefit from it; people who had submitted their application for international protection before that same date will also be eligible. The Executive also explained that admission for processing would allow people to work provisionally and that minor children in Spain could be regularised at the same time.
Therefore, for some Venezuelan people with an asylum application pending, the extraordinary regularisation could become the most important route out in 2026, provided it is ultimately approved and its final terms published. As of 5 April 2026, the Government itself continues to describe the process as pending final approval, although it maintains that its timetable is still moving forward.
2. Venezuelan people whose asylum application has already been refused
Here too, it is important to be very precise. The regulations currently in force include a fifth transitional provision allowing certain people who became irregular after a final decision refusing or dismissing their application for international protection to apply for residence authorisation through arraigo, but under the transitional regime currently in force this route applies only to those who had entered that situation before 20 May 2025. In addition, that provision is not valid for everyone or immediately: it requires the person to have remained in Spain in an irregular situation for at least six months before submitting the application.
However, alongside this transitional provision in the regulations currently in force, the drafts of the 2026 extraordinary regularisation scheme are considering another, separate fifth transitional provision specifically intended for applicants for international protection. According to the publicly available information on this process, this future route could benefit those who had submitted their asylum application before 1 January 2026, even if they did not fit within the fifth transitional provision currently in force. For many Venezuelan people this would be especially relevant, because it would open an extraordinary regularisation route linked to their status as asylum applicants, without initially requiring them to meet the same criteria that the current transitional provision requires for final refusals issued before 20 May 2025. Put simply: if that draft is approved on similar terms, it could offer an important route out for many Venezuelan asylum applicants who would currently fall outside the fifth transitional provision of the regulations in force.
3. People who have already been granted humanitarian grounds
This is one of the most sensitive points. People who already hold a residence authorisation on humanitarian grounds are still currently covered by a valid authorisation, with permission to reside and work, and the Ministry’s official information indicates that these authorisations and their extensions are valid for one year.
The problem arises when considering the move to a more stable ordinary authorisation. Here we need to correct an idea that is being repeated frequently: the regulations currently in force do not allow an application to modify under Article 191 from residence authorisations for exceptional circumstances under Article 128.1, which precisely include residence authorisations on humanitarian grounds linked to the Asylum Law. Article 191.7 of the Regulations expressly excludes it.
Put simply: having humanitarian grounds does not mean that there is currently a clear, open route to automatically “modify” it into ordinary residence and work authorisation through this pathway. This is precisely one of the major legal problems at present.
4. The group facing the greatest uncertainty: people with humanitarian grounds who are not working and depend on annual renewals
This is probably the most exposed group. Many Venezuelan people have been in Spain for some time, have been chaining together annual extensions of their humanitarian authorisation and have not been able to secure a more stable situation. In some cases they do not have a contract; in others they work in precarious conditions; in others, they simply do not fit the ordinary routes provided for by the regulations.
At present, the transition applicable to all these people is not expressly defined with the degree of detail that would be desirable, making it premature to say that they will all end up in an irregular situation. The most accurate statement is that there is a real risk of legal uncertainty for those who depended on a cycle of renewals and do not have easy access to other routes.
Nor does the second-chance arraigo appear, in principle, to resolve this problem in most cases, because this form of arraigo requires having held a residence authorisation that was not granted on the basis of exceptional circumstances. And humanitarian grounds are precisely an authorisation based on exceptional circumstances.
5. Venezuelan people arriving from now on
For those arriving in Spain from now on, the situation will be more difficult. If the practice that had generally allowed humanitarian grounds to be granted after an asylum refusal stops being applied, there will no longer be that almost automatic expectation that operated in practice for many Venezuelan people for years. This will mean looking at other regularisation routes, which tend to be slower, more demanding and more uncertain.
In addition, ordinary arraigo routes generally require two years of continuous residence and, for those who have applied for international protection, the time taken to process the asylum application is not counted until a final decision has been issued. This can greatly extend the actual time needed to access a residence authorisation through arraigo.
What this situation reveals
It is important not to lose sight of the human context. UNHCR continues to describe the situation in Venezuela as a displacement crisis of enormous scale and reports that around 7.9 million people have left the country in search of protection and a better life. This context helps explain why Spain opened a humanitarian pathway in 2018 that has benefited hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan people.
For that reason, the debate should not be limited to whether or not a procedure changes. The underlying question is different: if a route that had worked in practice as a mass response to a prolonged crisis is reduced, the alternatives must be clear, accessible and offer genuine legal certainty. When that does not happen, the risk is not only administrative. The risk is pushing many people and families into another period of uncertainty.
What should be done now
The most important thing at this point is not to act on rumours. Each case requires an individual review: date of entry into Spain, status of the asylum case, validity of the current authorisation, criminal record, registration with the municipality, family ties, work and whether or not the person may fit within the extraordinary regularisation scheme if it is ultimately approved.
It is also advisable to gather as soon as possible all documentation that may prove useful: municipal registration, passport, asylum decisions, cards, employment history, contracts, criminal record certificates, social services reports, medical or school documentation for minors and any evidence of residence in Spain. In 2026, the difference between being able to pursue a regularisation route and being left out may literally lie in how each date and circumstance is evidenced.
A final thought
As of 5 April 2026, the most honest thing to say is this: yes, the situation is becoming tougher for many Venezuelan people, but not everything is closed and not everything is lost. Some situations have a way forward, others involve considerable uncertainty and others depend on the extraordinary regularisation scheme ultimately being approved on the terms announced.
At a time like this, legal prudence is not alarmism. It is responsibility.
