Change of sex and name in the Civil Registry (Ley Trans)

Ley 4/2023, of 28 February, recognises the right to the registry rectification of the mention of sex for any person of Spanish nationality over 16 years old, who can request it by themselves before the Registro Civil (article 43). You do not have to prove any medical requirement: the free will of the person is enough.

Minors under 16 and over 14 years old also submit the application by themselves, but assisted in the procedure by their legal representatives. If the representatives disagree with each other or with the minor, the law provides for the appointment of a judicial defender.

Between 12 and 14 years old, a prior judicial authorisation is required, which is obtained through a voluntary jurisdiction file with preferential processing (articles 26 bis and following of Ley 15/2015). The judge verifies the maturity of the minor and the stability of their will, informs them in clear language of the consequences and resolves according to their best interests. With the testimony of that resolution, you then go to the Registro Civil.

Minors under 12 years old cannot rectify the mention of sex, but they can change their name for reasons of sexual identity (article 48 of Ley 4/2023), through their legal representatives and without the need to prove the habitual use of the new name, according to the Instrucción (Instruction) of the DGSJFP of 26 May 2023.

Managora studies your case, identifies the corresponding route by age and prepares all the documentation for each appearance.

The procedure is registry-based, not judicial (except for the prior authorisation for 12-13 years old). The application can be submitted at any Registro Civil office, regardless of your address, and is processed by the person in charge of the chosen office (first guideline of the Instrucción (Instruction) of 26 May 2023). Precisely for this reason, you are not required to provide an empadronamiento certificate (a document proving your registration at the local town hall).

The initial application can be submitted in person at the office or sent by certified mail, according to the third guideline of the same Instrucción (Instruction). The subsequent ratification, however, requires attending in person.

In the first appearance, a record is drawn up with your statement of disagreement with the registered sex and the choice of the new name (or the decision to keep the current one). The person in charge informs you of the legal consequences of the change, the reversion regime and the available assistance measures.

Within a maximum period of 3 months from that first appearance, you must attend again to ratify the application. It is a guarantee that the decision is firm: without ratification there is no change.

The person in charge of the Registro Civil issues a resolution within a maximum period of 1 month from the ratification. Adding the legal maximums, between the first appearance and the resolution, a maximum of about 4 months elapse, plus the appointment time of the office.

The procedure in the Registro Civil does not have an associated tasa (official fee). You can see Managora's updated fees for preparing and accompanying the file on the procedure's page.

No. Article 44.3 of Ley 4/2023 expressly prohibits conditioning the rectification on the prior exhibition of a medical or psychological report, and on the prior modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other procedures. This is the central change compared to the old Ley 3/2007, which required a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and 2 years of medical treatment.

Neither witnesses nor proof of life in the felt gender are requested. The double appearance with ratification at 3 months replaces all those requirements.

The only personal assessment exists in the 12-13 years old route: the judge verifies the maturity and stable will of the minor, but not even they can demand medical or psychological reports on sexual identity, nor condition the approval on any treatment (article 26 quinquies of Ley 15/2015).

The favourable resolution is registered and from that registration it produces constitutive effects: your legal sex and your name are the new ones for all purposes. The rectification is specially protected data (article 83 of Ley 20/2011): a new entry is opened and the ordinary certificates issued do not leave a record of the change, except at your request or with special authorisation.

The law also clarifies that the rectification does not alter the ownership of previous rights and obligations nor the legal regime that was applicable before the registration for the purposes of Ley Orgánica 1/2004: you keep your assets, your employment seniority and your legal relationships. The ID number and the NIF do not change, only the data appearing on them.

The first document that should be updated is the ID. To issue it due to a variation of data, you must bring a literal birth certificate of the new entry with a maximum age of 6 months from its issuance, so it is advisable to request it just before the appointment. If your ID is valid, the renewal due to a variation of data is free according to the official electronic ID portal. With the new ID, the passport, the Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system), the health card, the driving licence, academic qualifications (they are reissued by the centre or administration that issued them), the company and bank entities are updated in a cascade.

Managora gives you after the resolution a cascade update plan with each organisation, the recommended order and the documents you must take to each one, and prepares the communication letters that are needed.

Yes. After 6 months have elapsed since the registration of the rectification, the person who promoted it can recover the previous mention following the same registry procedure of double appearance (article 47 of Ley 4/2023 and fifth guideline of the Instrucción (Instruction) of 26 May 2023).

If after that reversion you wanted a new rectification, the registry route would no longer be enough: judicial approval would be required through the voluntary jurisdiction channel (articles 26 sexies and following of Ley 15/2015, which refer to the second paragraph of article 47 of Ley 4/2023).

In practice this means that the first change and its reversion are agile procedures before the Registro Civil, and only successive changes go through the court.

The Spanish Registro Civil can only rectify the birth registration of Spanish people. Foreign people do not rectify their birth here, but article 50 of Ley 4/2023 allows them to request the adaptation of the Spanish documents issued to them (TIE, the foreigner identity card, and others) if they prove the legal or factual impossibility of making the registry change in their country of origin and meet the same legitimation requirements of the law, except for Spanish nationality. Whoever has already made the change in their country can directly request that the Spanish documents reflect it.

Since 13 July 2026 there is an Interior police protocol that channels these applications before the Immigration and Borders Brigade of the National Police, without going through the court. When impossibility in the country of origin is alleged, the Brigade requests a report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prove it. The TIE in all its modalities, the Union citizen registration certificate, the registration certificate for undocumented persons, the travel document and international protection documents are rectified.

For foreign minors, the same age brackets of the law apply regarding legitimation (16, 14 and 12 years old, with assistance or judicial authorisation depending on the bracket), applied to the adaptation of their Spanish documents; the official note of the protocol does not detail specialities by age, so it is advisable to present each case with its specific documentation.

Whatever your situation, Managora reviews your case, gathers the necessary accreditations and submits the application for you: request your study from the procedure's page and start the file today.