Arraigo in Spain: five types, common requirements and the path after the first year

Residencia temporal por circunstancias excepcionales: arraigo

~12 min read · Published 22 July 2026 Updated and checked against official sources 20 October 2026 Print / PDF

Arraigo, autorización de residencia temporal por circunstancias excepcionales por razón de arraigo, is granted to a foreign national who is already in Spain and tied to it through work, family, studies or a previous permit. There are five types (art. 125 RD 1155/2024), and all of them except arraigo familiar share one condition: two years of stay in Spain before the application. The application is filed in Spain, and no visa is needed. The permit is issued for one year, arraigo familiar for five, and includes the right to work.

Contents

• What arraigo is
• Pros and cons
• Five types
• Common requirements and documents
• How the two years are counted
• How the procedure runs
• Refusal and appeal
• Renewal and what comes next

What arraigo is

Arraigo is a residence permit for a foreign national who already lives in Spain and is tied to it through work, family, studies or a previous permit (art. 124.1 and 125.1 RD 1155/2024). The application is filed in Spain, and there is no need to leave for a visa (art. 31.3 LO 4/2000). Arraigo belongs to the permits for exceptional circumstances (circunstancias excepcionales), as does humanitarian residence.

There are five types, and they differ in their ground (art. 127). The requirements for the applicant, the filing procedure, the right to work and renewal are common to all of them (art. 126 and 130 to 132). The ministry explains them in Instrucciones SEM 1/2025 of May 13, 2025, and in information sheets (hojas informativas) 27 to 31, one per type.

Until May 20, 2025, the previous regulation, RD 557/2011, applied. It had four types: laboral, social, familiar and para la formación, and arraigo social required three years in Spain (art. 124 RD 557/2011).

The 2026 extraordinary regularization is not one of these five types. It was also granted as arraigo, but under separate rules (DA 20ª and DA 21ª RD 1155/2024), and applications were accepted until June 30, 2026. Pending cases are decided under those separate rules, which are covered in the article on the 2026 regularization. The five ordinary types have no filing deadline.

↑ Back to contents

Pros and cons

↑ back to contents

Five types

The type depends on what ties the applicant to Spain (art. 125 and 127). The permit term and the right to work by type:

The regulation and the ministry give different amounts of means for arraigo social. The regulation requires at least 100% of the IPREM and links the means to the family tie (art. 127.c). The ministry requires 100% of the IPREM for the relative and 100% for the applicant, that is, 200% of the IPREM, and requires means also from applicants who file with an integration report (Instrucciones SEM 1/2025, para. Cuarta.2 and Cuarta.3). Hoja 28 repeats the 200% but names no means for the integration report route. The amount to prepare in each case is covered in the article on arraigo social.

A permit of any type allows work as an employee and self-employed, anywhere in Spain and in any occupation (art. 131). There are two exceptions. Arraigo socioformativo allows employment only, up to 30 hours a week, paid at least the SMI or the collective agreement rate in proportion to the hours (art. 131.b). A child below the minimum working age in Spain does not receive the right to work (art. 131.a).

If the applicant qualifies for both sociolaboral and social, sociolaboral is the better option for two reasons. Employment is allowed as soon as the application is admitted for processing (art. 130.5), and no means are needed (art. 127.b). Arraigo social needs no contract, but it needs a family member with a residence permit or an integration report, plus the means described above. Segunda oportunidad needs neither a contract nor a report: the ground is the previous permit together with two years in Spain.

↑ Back to contents

Common requirements and documents

An applicant for any type must meet all the common requirements at once (art. 126). Required:

• Being in Spain and not being an applicant for international protection either at filing or while the application is pending. An applicant is anyone whose protection claim has no final decision, including a court decision if a refusal was appealed (art. 126.a).
• Two years of continuous stay in Spain before applying, except for arraigo familiar (art. 126.b). How this period is counted is explained below.
• Not being a threat to public order, security or health (art. 126.c).
• No criminal record in Spain or in the countries where the applicant lived during the five years before entering Spain, for acts that are also crimes in Spain (art. 126.d).
• Not being listed as refused entry in the countries with which Spain has an agreement to that effect (art. 126.e).
• For anyone who left Spain under a voluntary return program, waiting until the period of the commitment not to return has ended (art. 126.f).
• Paying the fee on form 790, code 052, section 2.3.1, within ten working days of filing (art. 126.g, Hoja 28).
• Not holding a stay or residence permit and not waiting for a decision on an application for such a permit, its renewal or a change of status (art. 126.h).

The last requirement has applied since April 16, 2026, when RD 316/2026 introduced it. This means that a student with a valid estancia, or a person waiting for a decision on another application, cannot apply for arraigo while the estancia is valid or the case is still open.

Documents common to all types (art. 130.1 and 130.2):

• A full copy of a valid passport, cédula de inscripción or título de viaje recognized in Spain.
• Form EX-10.
• A criminal record certificate from the countries where the applicant lived during the five years before entering Spain, if the applicant is 18 or older.
• Proof of payment of the fee.
• Documents proving the ground of the type. For arraigo sociolaboral, this is the employment contract signed by the worker and the employer.

The immigration office obtains the Spanish criminal record and the police report itself, and both are issued within seven days (art. 130.2). How to apostille and translate a certificate from another country is covered in the article on the criminal record certificate.

Not required at filing:

• A visa (art. 130.1).
• Lawful stay on the filing date: being in Spain is enough (art. 126.a).
• Health insurance (art. 126 and 127).
• Financial means, except for arraigo social (art. 127.c).
• Any period of stay in Spain for arraigo familiar (art. 126.b).

↑ Back to contents

How the two years are counted

The two years must be continuous and end immediately before filing. Absences from Spain during that time may not exceed 90 calendar days in total (art. 126.b, Instrucciones SEM 1/2025, para. Primera.2).

The stay is proved with documents bearing the applicant’s details, above all documents from Spanish public bodies: empadronamiento, a hospital stay, an appointment in public healthcare, or a document from the town hall, the region or a state body (hojas 28 and 30). We select the documents that cover each month of the two years when the service is ordered.

Time while an international protection claim is pending does not count toward the two years (art. 126.b). The break starts on the day the person expressed the wish to seek protection, not on the day the claim was registered (Instrucciones SEM 1/2025, para. Primera.3.a). The count runs again from the date set by Criterio de gestión DGGM 4/2025 of September 12, 2025:

• A refusal, a decision not to admit the claim (inadmisión) or a closure of the file (archivo) that was not appealed: the date of that decision.
• An appealed decision: the date of the decision on the appeal or of the court ruling that became final, or the date on which withdrawal of the appeal or court claim was registered.
• Withdrawal of the protection claim (desistimiento): the date it was registered with the Ministry of the Interior.

Of the two dates, the date of the decision and the date of its notification, the one more favorable to the applicant applies.

For example, a woman entered Spain and claimed asylum the same month. A refusal she did not appeal was issued on May 15, 2025, and notified on June 2, 2025. The two years run from May 15, 2025: it is the earlier and therefore more favorable date. She can apply for arraigo social no earlier than mid-May 2027. The example shows that the time the asylum claim was pending does not count toward the two years, even though she lived in Spain throughout.

↑ Back to contents

How the procedure runs

The applicant files in person, or the legal representative files for a minor (art. 130.1). The application is filed with the Oficina de Extranjería of the province where the applicant lives, in person or electronically through the Mercurio portal (Hoja 28).

If documents are missing, the office issues a requerimiento, a request to complete the application, with a deadline of no more than 15 days. Without an answer in time, the application is treated as withdrawn and the file is closed (art. 130.3).

The decision is issued within three months from the day after the application is received, and silence means refusal (DA 7ª and DA 8ª RD 1155/2024). This means that after three months without an answer the application is deemed rejected and can be appealed. The procedure is covered in the article on administrative silence.

The notice that the application has been admitted for processing is neither an approval nor a refusal. For four of the types, it only confirms that a file is open and gives no right to reside in Spain or to work. For arraigo sociolaboral it gives more: from admission until the decision, the applicant may reside in Spain and work as an employee, and the notice itself states this right (art. 130.5).

An approved arraigo sociolaboral takes effect only if the worker is registered with Social Security (alta) within a month of notification of the approval (art. 130.5).

Within a month of notification of the approval, the holder of any type applies in person for the TIE at the police station (art. 130.6).

↑ Back to contents

Refusal and appeal

A refusal can be challenged in one of two ways. The first is a recurso de reposición, an appeal to the same immigration office, within a month of notification (art. 124 Ley 39/2015). The second is a direct recurso contencioso-administrativo, a claim before the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo, the first-instance administrative court, within two months (art. 8.4 and 46.1 LJCA, the administrative court procedure act, Ley 29/1998). No appeal goes to a higher authority: the office’s decision is final in the administrative route (DA 9ª RD 1155/2024). Against a refusal by silence, the reposición may be filed at any time.

Instead of an appeal, a new application can be filed if the circumstances behind the refusal have changed. A repeat application with nothing new is not admitted for examination (DA 4ª.1.c LO 4/2000).

↑ Back to contents

Renewal and what comes next

A renewal gives the same term as the first permit: one year, and five years for arraigo familiar (art. 132.1). The application is filed in the last two months of the permit, and the previous permit stays valid until the decision. It can also be filed within three months after expiry: the permit still stays valid, but the immigration office opens a fine procedure for the delay (art. 132.3, art. 52.b LO 4/2000). The fee is paid on form 790, code 052, section 2.4.

Renewal conditions depend on the type (art. 132.2 as amended by RD 316/2026):

• Segunda oportunidad, sociolaboral and social: the applicant is actively looking for work and registered with the public employment service. Without this, the permit is renewed if a justified reason prevents work, for example illness, disability or retirement age.
• Socioformativo: a certificate from the school confirming promotion to the second year, for a grado básico or grado medio program. If the training ended before the year was over, the diploma or certificate is needed, along with an active job search and registration with the employment service.
• Familiar: no special conditions.

A renewal again gives one year with the same right to work. A four-year permit can be obtained only through a change of status, without leaving Spain (art. 191). What is needed depends on how long the applicant has lived in Spain with a permit:

If the previous permit has already expired, the four-year permit runs from the day after it ended. If not, it runs from the date of approval (art. 191.3). All routes are collected in the article on change of status, and the renewal procedure in the article on renewals.

Years on arraigo and on the permit that replaces it count toward the five years of legal and continuous residence required for long-term residence (art. 183.1). A holder of arraigo familiar completes the five years on a single permit. Absences during those five years may not exceed 6 months in a row or 10 months in total (art. 183.2).

Citizens of the US, the UK, Canada and Australia obtain Spanish citizenship after 10 years of legal and continuous residence (art. 22.1 Código Civil). Years in Spain without a permit before arraigo do not count toward this period. The procedure is covered in the article on Spanish citizenship.

↑ Back to contents

Author Aleksandr Nazarov