The Government’s operation to relocate immigrants who arrived in Ceuta from Morocco during the surge on July 30 and process their asylum applications or initiate their return to their countries of origin is set to lead to an odyssey of years due to the bureaucratic complexities of the process and the lack of officials to carry out identifications quickly. While the EU pressures Spain to ensure that none of them reach the Peninsula, and in a context where authorities have yet to accurately quantify the individuals involved, the operation started yesterday with difficulties, 21 days after an unprecedented mass entry.
The resolution of an asylum application procedure like the one migrants arriving in Ceuta are now undertaking can take years, as evidenced by ongoing cases from the previous migration crisis, the one more than five years ago, in May 2021, when Rabat caused the autonomous city to be left open by allowing free passage. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the National Court continues to resolve cases from that wave, appeals filed against the refusal of the Ministry of the Interior to grant international protection.
In a ruling notified in June, the Contentious Chamber rejected the appeal of a Moroccan who “entered our country, specifically Ceuta, on May 17, 2021 [date of the migrant wave]. Once in our country, he applied for asylum on August 12, 2021.”
“From the documentation in the file,” the court states, “it is not proven, not even circumstantially, that the asylum seeker has suffered personal and individualized persecution in his country for any of the reasons provided in the 1951 Geneva Convention. The facts alleged by the plaintiff about the poor economic and political situation in his country and the well-founded fear for his life if returned there have not only not been proven, but that poor situation has no relation to any of the grounds for granting refugee status, which refer, as stated, to reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinions, membership of a particular social group, gender, or sexual orientation.”
The same response was given in June to another Moroccan who “entered Spain on May 18, 2021, swimming to the Ceuta beach of El Tarajal from Castillejos, during the massive immigrant entry that occurred on that date.” To be granted refugee status, he described Morocco’s economic situation and the lack of respect for human rights, without success before the court.
Denied in 94% of cases
As in these cases, almost all applications submitted by Moroccans are rejected by the Interior Ministry and subsequently by the Court. According to data from the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), in 2025 there were 3,003 applications from Moroccans and only 5.4% were granted refugee status, while in the first five months of 2026 there were 1,266 applications and barely 6% were granted. The average across all nationalities ranges between 12% and 15%, lower than the European average.
In most cases, Moroccans claim they seek to escape poverty and take advantage of job opportunities in Spain, which is not a legal reason to obtain asylum, as numerous rulings repeat. To be granted asylum, there must be indications of a well-founded fear of persecution. It is easier to grant it to LGBTI people or political opponents who have been imprisoned. Even so, Moroccans have become accustomed to applying for asylum in recent years, and it is expected that many of those currently in Ceuta will do so. They make up 80% of those in the autonomous city, and their applications, even if denied, will have to follow all the steps of the process.
“The appellant for these purposes invokes the low standard of living offered in Morocco and his desire to rebuild his life in Spain, a country that offers more job opportunities and the protection of the welfare state. […] The legitimacy of the arguments is not questioned, […] but the socioeconomic difficulties in the country of origin do not justify granting international protection,” states another ruling from the Court regarding the massive entry of 2021.
A very recent ruling from July, also denying asylum requested in 2021, emphasized “that the European Parliament and the Council ratified on December 18, 2025, that Morocco is a safe country.” The PP has used this EU declaration of Morocco as a safe country to demand that the Government speed up returns, although this does not prevent immigrants from making their applications.
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18 months
The process begins with data collection from immigrants in which possible vulnerabilities are detected, and from there, asylum is requested or return is applied through the Immigration Law. Notification of acceptance or denial of asylum is usually quick—a maximum of two weeks—but the final response takes an average of 18 months, according to CEAR data.
In case of denial, applicants become irregular. Most usually appeal this decision through litigation. During that time, they can be returned to their country, but sources familiar with these files assure that this is no longer usually done. “The number is small because it is a very costly procedure since, except in the case of Morocco, it is difficult for countries to accept the return,” they point out.
What is happening in Ceuta is that there are not enough police officers to carry out the preliminary screenings before asylum interviews. The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, estimated yesterday that the National Police resolves “between 25 and 30 per day” return files, a figure he considered insufficient to restore normality to the city. “At this rate, the people who have arrived would not leave Ceuta for at least a year,” he warned.
CEAR sources add that four asylum interviews are conducted in the morning and four in the afternoon and confirm the “lack of resources.” Without that screening, asylum cannot be requested nor can return be initiated.
Besides the majority of Moroccan immigrants, there are also citizens—mostly men—from Sudan and Yemen, and also from Palestine, with high asylum grant rates due to the war.
“Unmanageable”
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, Elma Saiz, announced yesterday in an interview on La Sexta that it will be possible to “speed up the preparation of files” as the transfer of sub-Saharan and Moroccan migrants who were on Trampolín beach to the 1,800 reception places activated in two public spaces in the autonomous city took place yesterday morning, although, hours after the relocation, about 500 Maghrebis returned to settle on the beach, reports Marta Belver.
Saiz did not want to specify the number of immigrants remaining in Ceuta. More is known about minors. In an interview on Ser, the Secretary of State for Youth and Childhood, Rubén Pérez Correa, spoke of about 2,400 or 2,500, but was convinced that “there are many more.” He himself acknowledged that “it will be a number that the Ceuta protection system has never had, not even in 2021.” “We are talking about a contingent in unmanageable numbers, unmanageable even if we wanted to quantify or establish here a protection system capable of absorbing them.”
