In short: on 8 July 2026, Spain's Supreme Court decided not to suspend Royal Decree 316/2026 on the extraordinary regularisation of foreigners, and not to refer, for now, a preliminary question to the EU Court of Justice (CJEU). The decree remains in force; the application deadline (30 June 2026) had already passed.
The Fifth Section of the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court, ruling on the interim-measures pieces of the administrative appeals filed by the Valencia Regional Government (Generalitat Valenciana) and the Aragón Regional Government (appeals 109/2026 and 120/2026) against Royal Decree 316/2026, of 14 April — which amends the Regulation of Organic Law 4/2000 to facilitate extraordinary regularisation through temporary residence authorisations for exceptional circumstances — decided two things:
- Not to grant the requested interim measure (suspending enforcement of the decree), referring to the reasoning already set out in the rulings issued in appeals 98/2026 and 100/2026.
- Not to refer, at this procedural stage, the preliminary question to the CJEU that the parties had been asked to comment on (see the earlier card on that step: ts-cuestion-prejudicial-tjue-rd-316-2026); the Chamber reasons that, once the non-suspension was agreed, referring the question now is not appropriate.
No dissenting opinions were issued. The rulings will be notified to the parties in the coming days.
What does this mean in practice? Royal Decree 316/2026 remains in force and continues to apply normally. This does NOT reopen the application deadline (it ended on 30 June 2026): anyone who already filed under one of the decree's two routes continues their ordinary processing unchanged. The regional governments' challenge against the decree remains open — this ruling only covers interim measures and the preliminary-question request, not the merits of the case — so it's worth following how the case develops.
Official source: Supreme Court press release (CGPJ), 8 July 2026.
Informational only, not legal advice; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.