Arraigo in Spain in 2026: types, requirements and which one applies to you

Arraigo is a temporary residence permit for exceptional circumstances, designed for foreign nationals who are already living in Spain in an irregular situation and have built ties with the country. It is the main route to regularise your situation without having to leave Spain.

The framework in force is Real Decreto 1155/2024, de 19 de noviembre (the Spanish Immigration Regulation), in force since 20 May 2025, which repealed the old Reglamento de Extranjería (RD 557/2011, the previous Immigration Regulation). The 2 most important changes: the minimum stay dropped from 3 to 2 years (except for arraigo familiar) and every type allows you to work from the moment it is granted. As a general rule the permit covers employed or self-employed work as an autónomo (a self-employed worker registered in Spain), with one exception: arraigo socioformativo only authorises employed work, with a limit of 30 hours per week. With arraigo sociolaboral you can start even earlier: from the moment your application is admitted for processing (admisión a trámite) until it is decided, you are provisionally authorised to live and work as an employee, and the comunicación de inicio (the notice that processing has started) states this (article 130.5, as worded by RD 316/2026).

Managora studies your case, works out which type applies to you, gathers and reviews the paperwork, and files the application with the Oficina de Extranjería (the Immigration Office) in your name.

Article 125.1 of RD 1155/2024 recognises 5 types of arraigo. To pick the right one, look at 3 things: how long you have been in Spain, who your ties are with, and whether you have a job or a training place.

Arraigo social is for people who have been in Spain for 2 years and can show integration or family ties. Sociolaboral is for people with one or more signed employment contracts. Socioformativo is for people who are enrolled, or are going to enrol, in bachillerato (upper secondary education), FP de grado medio (intermediate vocational training) or other intermediate level studies, a complete certificado profesional (vocational certificate) or compulsory adult education taught in person (FP de grado básico, basic vocational training, included), or who commit to a training course run by the Servicios Públicos de Empleo (public employment services); university, higher vocational training (FP de grado superior) and language courses do not count. Second chance is for people who held a residence permit and lost it through no fault of their own. Arraigo familiar has a very specific scope that is worth clarifying.

Watch out for a common mix-up: if your reference relative is Spanish (spouse, child, or you are the parent of a Spanish minor), your route is NOT arraigo but residence as a family member of a Spanish citizen under article 94, which is more favourable (a 5-year card and a free application). The arraigo familiar in article 127.e) is reserved for parents or guardians of a minor who is a national of the European Union, the EEA or Switzerland, and for people supporting a person with a disability of that same nationality. Managora handles both routes.

Whatever the type, article 126 sets out general requirements: being in Spain and not having an application for international protection (asylum) without a final decision, either when you apply or while your application is being processed; proving the continuous stay required (2 years, except for arraigo familiar), in which any time spent as an applicant for international protection does not count; having no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the 5 years before you entered Spain; and not being banned from entry or subject to a standing expulsion order.

Since RD 316/2026 there is a further requirement in article 126.h): you must not hold another stay or residence permit, and you must not be a party to a procedure to grant, extend, renew or modify one. In other words, arraigo is for people whose status is irregular, not a way to swap a permit you already have.

On top of those general requirements, each type adds its own specific ones under article 127: an employment contract, an informe de integración social (social integration report), proof of enrolment on a training course, or the previous permit you lost.

The central piece of evidence is your continuous stay. You prove it above all with the certificado de empadronamiento histórico, a historic certificate from the padrón (the municipal register of residents), which lists every address you have had with its dates. It is worth backing it up with any dated document showing you were in Spain: your health card, medical reports, course enrolments, rental contracts, bills, bank statements or the stamps in your passport.

To that you add a full copy of your valid passport and, depending on the type, the signed employment contract, the informe de integración social from your comunidad autónoma (regional government) or town hall, or proof of enrolment on the training course. If you are over the age of criminal responsibility (mayor de edad penal), you also need the criminal record certificate from the country or countries where you lived during the 5 years before you entered Spain, apostilled or legalised through consular channels, and translated; you do not need it if you have spent the last 5 years in Spain without interruption, or if you already proved this in another application filed within those 5 years and have not left Spain since. You do not have to provide your Spanish criminal record: the Oficina de Extranjería checks it itself.

Managora reviews all the paperwork, spots gaps before filing and handles for you the parts that often get stuck: the apostille and the sworn translation.

The Oficina de Extranjería has 3 months to decide. Silence is negative: if the deadline passes with no reply, the application is deemed refused. If the refusal is express, you can lodge an optional recurso de reposición (asking the same body to review its own decision) within 1 month, since the decision exhausts the administrative route, or go straight to the recurso contencioso-administrativo (judicial review before the administrative courts) within 2 months. If instead there is negative silence (no express decision), the deadline for the recurso contencioso-administrativo is 6 months and, according to the case law of the Tribunal Constitucional (the Constitutional Court) and the Tribunal Supremo (the Supreme Court), that deadline does not expire while the administration has not decided expressly. The pie de recurso (the appeal notice at the foot of the decision) states which appeal applies in your case.

Once arraigo is granted, you get a residence permit (and work authorisation) valid for 1 year (5 years for arraigo familiar). Within 1 month the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE), the foreigner ID card, has to be applied for at a police station (comisaría), and there are two separate appointments: first the fingerprinting one and, between 30 and 45 days later, the one to collect the card. If you instruct us for the TIE, we get you both appointments and all you do is turn up at the police station on those two days, because both the fingerprints and the handover of the card are personal. Before you start work as an employee, your employer must register you with the Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system). With arraigo sociolaboral, in addition, the permit granted only takes effect if you are registered with the Seguridad Social within 1 month of notification; if you are already working and registered under the provisional authorisation, staying registered is enough. With arraigo socioformativo, if your enrolment was not provided with the application, it has to be proven to the Oficina de Extranjería within 3 months of notification of the grant; if it is not, the Oficina may terminate the permit.

The permit is not renewed. Except for arraigo familiar, which lasts 5 years, when the year ends it is extended through a prórroga (extension) for periods of 1 year, or you move to a residence and work permit (article 191), which lasts 4 years if you meet its requirements. For arraigo social, sociolaboral and second chance, the prórroga requires you to be registered as a job seeker with the public employment service and actively looking for work, unless illness, disability or retirement age prevents it; for arraigo socioformativo, if you are on a ciclo de grado básico or medio (a basic or intermediate vocational course), it requires a report from the school certifying that you have moved up to the second year and, if you finished the training before the year was up, the qualification or certificate obtained and being registered as a job seeker with the public employment service and actively looking for work. The prórroga is applied for in the 2 months before expiry. Managora also takes you through getting the TIE and the prórroga or change of permit.

Real Decreto 316/2026, de 14 de abril (the 2026 reform decree), in force on 16 April 2026, reformed the Reglamento de Extranjería: it added the requirement of not holding another permit (article 126.h), allowed applicants for arraigo sociolaboral to work as employees on a provisional basis from the moment their application is admitted for processing (article 130.5) and created 2 temporary windows for extraordinary regularisation (disposiciones adicionales 20ª y 21ª, additional provisions 20 and 21).

Those 2 extraordinary routes (arraigo for applicants for international protection and arraigo extraordinario) could only be applied for between 16 April and 30 June 2026. As at the date of this guide that window is closed. The 5 ordinary types of arraigo remain fully in force with no closing date.

In addition, the Secretaría de Estado de Migraciones (the State Secretariat for Migration) has unified, by way of an instruction, the criteria for preparing and assessing the informe de integración social, a key document in arraigo social and in arraigo socioformativo.