Spain exceeds 180,000 temporary protections for refugees from Ukraine

Comunitat Valenciana, Cataluña, Andalucía and Madrid are the autonomous communities in which the most requests have been granted, among which 62% are women.

Spain has exceeded 180,000 temporary protections for Ukrainian refugees since the activation of this extraordinary protection mechanism, which immediately grants residence and work permits to citizens displaced by the Russian invasion. As of July 7, the Asylum and Refuge Office of the Ministry of the Interior and the National Police have processed and granted a total of 180,785 protections.

Last March, the European Commission communicated to the Council of Interior Ministers the extension of temporary protection until March 2024. The activation of the Temporary Protection Directive, for the first time since its creation in 2001, was approved unanimously in the Council of Ministers of the Interior held on March 4, 2022, and only six days later Spain launched the urgent application and processing procedure.

62% of the people who have obtained this figure in Spain are women (112,591) and 38% men (68,194). By age group, 32% are under 18 years of age; 26%, between 19 and 35 years old; 35%, between 36 and 64; and 7% are over 65 years of age.

In addition, most of the people who have obtained temporary protection, 98.1%, are citizens of Ukrainian nationality, while the remaining 1.9% correspond to citizens of other nationalities who were legally residing on Ukrainian territory when the outbreak of the war.

Temporary protection by autonomous communities

Comunitat Valenciana (50,066), Cataluña (41,343), Andalucía (25,952) and Madrid (24,972) are the autonomous communities in which the most temporary protections have been processed and granted.

First activation of the European Directive

The mechanism activated by the Asylum and Refuge Office of the Ministry of the Interior allows temporary protection to be granted quickly and easily within a maximum period of 24 hours from the request.

The procedure begins in the National Police stations throughout the national territory and in the authorized reception centres, where National Police officers, supported by interpreters, are in charge of collecting the identification data of Ukrainian citizens. This request is subsequently processed by the Asylum and Refuge Office and resolved within a maximum period of 24 hours.

All the temporary protections processed entail a residence permit and, for those of legal age, a work permit. In addition, by virtue of what is established by the General Directorate of Traffic, displaced persons who obtain temporary protection can legally use their driving licences.

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