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is Real Decreto 1155/2024, de 19 de noviembre (the Spanish Immigration Regulation), in force since 20 May 2025, which repealed the old Reglamento de Extranjería (RD 557/2011, the previous Immigration Regulation).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, with one exception: arraigo socioformativo only authorises employed work, with a limit of 30 hours per week.

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 an employment contract or job offer. Socioformativo is for people who commit to formal education or employment training. 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, proving the continuous stay required (2 years, except for arraigo familiar), having no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you have lived in the last 5 years, 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 your valid passport, the criminal record certificates from Spain and from your country of origin (apostilled or legalised through consular channels, and translated) and, depending on the type, the employment contract or job offer, the informe de integración social from your comunidad autónoma (regional government) or town hall, or proof of enrolment on the training course.

Managora reviews all the paperwork, spots gaps before filing and handles for you the parts that often get stuck: the apostille, the sworn translation or the application for your Spanish criminal record certificate itself.

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) with an initial validity of 1 year. Within 1 month you must apply for the Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero (TIE), the foreigner ID card, at a police station (comisaría), where your fingerprints are taken. Before you start work as an employee, your employer must register you with the Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system).

When it expires, the permit is renewed, normally as a residence and work permit. Managora also takes you through getting the TIE and the renewal.

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) 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.