The applicants, a family with children, nationals of Georgia, applied for international protection in Spain on 3 July 2018, stating that the husband had a traffic accident with an employee of a hotel near his home, that he received compensation from the hotel, and in turn, the hotel claimed the money from the employee for being the culprit. The husband indicated that the employee appeared at the applicants’ home and claimed the amount of compensation, harassed his wife and threatened them.

By resolutions of 11 and 13 December 2019, following UNHCR’s unfavourable report, the requests for international protection were rejected. On appeal, by judgment of 22 September 2021, their requests were dismissed.

Upon further appeal, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled on the question of whether it is necessary for a formal application for temporary residence for humanitarian reasons to be filed before the administration, in order for a court to rule on an appeal lodged against a refusal decision, or if the regime applicable to "applicants or beneficiaries of international protection in a situation of vulnerability" is sufficient for the administration to decide or not to grant a temporary residence permit on humanitarian grounds.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal with regard to the request for international protection but it highlighted that national authorities are obliged to assess a request for residence on humanitarian grounds within the asylum procedure, if this is requested by the applicant. The court noted that authorities should have a proactive approach for applicants with vulnerabilities and assess the option to provide humanitarian protection, even when there is no evident request from the applicant.