Arraigo in Spain 2026: residence after two years, the 5 types and which one fits you

Arraigo is one of the temporary residence permits on exceptional grounds (circunstancias excepcionales) in Spain's Immigration Regulation (Reglamento de Extranjería), Real Decreto 1155/2024 ¹. It is meant for people who already live in Spain and have built work, family, social or training ties there.

The regulation came into force on 20 May 2025 ^{3 1}. With it:

• The prior stay is two years, except for family arraigo, which has no minimum period ¹.
• There are five types: second chance, work-based, social, training-based and family ^{3 1}.
• Every arraigo permit allows you to work ¹.

Real Decreto 316/2026, in force since 16 April 2026, changed arraigo again ^{2 1}:

• It added a common requirement: you cannot hold another stay or residence permit or be a party to another permit procedure.
• It changed the wording of social arraigo.
• It gave people who apply for work-based arraigo a provisional right to work.
• It changed the requirements to renew work-based and social arraigo.

The same decree opened the extraordinary regularisation (regularización extraordinaria), which closed on 30 June 2026 ².

Article 126 of the regulation requires, in every case ¹:

• Being in Spain and not being an applicant for international protection (asylum).
• Having stayed in Spain continuously for at least the previous two years. The time an international protection application is being processed does not count until there is a final decision. Family arraigo has no minimum stay.
• Not being a threat to public order, security or public health.
• Having no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before you arrived in Spain.
• Not being within the period of a commitment not to return to Spain (compromiso de no retorno), if you signed one.
• Having paid the fee.
• Not holding a stay or residence permit and not being a party to another permit procedure.

If you have lived in Spain for five years in a row, you do not have to provide the criminal record certificate from your country ¹.

Type	For whom	Specific requirement
Second chance (segunda oportunidad)	People who held a residence permit in the previous two years and could not renew it	That permit was not on exceptional grounds, and the failure to renew was not due to public order, security or public health
Work-based (sociolaboral)	People with a job offer	One or more contracts paying at least the minimum wage or the collective agreement rate, in proportion to the hours, adding up to 20 hours a week or more
Social	People with family resident in Spain or who have integrated	Ties with resident foreign family members and means of 100% of the IPREM; without those ties, a favourable social integration report
Training-based (socioformativo)	People who study or are going to study	Being enrolled in or taking certain courses, or committing to training from the public employment services, with an integration report
Family (familiar)	Parents or guardians of a minor from another EU or EEA country or Switzerland, or people who support a person with a disability from those countries	Living with and caring for the minor or the person with a disability

Source: article 127 of the regulation ¹.

Work-based. You can add up several contracts in two cases: back-to-back seasonal jobs with different employers, or part-time jobs with several employers at the same time ¹. The employer must meet the requirements of article 74 of the regulation, except the one in letter 1.a) ¹.

Social. The ties that count are with a spouse or registered partner and with first-degree relatives in a direct line (parents or children) who hold residence ¹. Your means must reach 100% of the IPREM (Spain's public income reference index) ¹, which in 2026 is €600 a month ⁵. Without family ties, your integration effort is assessed. The report is issued by the regional government (comunidad autónoma), or by the town hall if the region delegated it, within one month, and covers how long you have lived at your address, your means and your participation in integration programmes ¹.

Training-based. Courses that count include full-time post-compulsory secondary education or a complete grade C vocational training course (formación profesional) ¹. You must prove your enrolment within three months of the notification ¹.

Family. Since 2025 it is limited to cases involving citizens of other EU or EEA states or Switzerland. Parents of Spanish minors have their own permit under another part of the regulation ¹.

This table gives you a starting point based on what you have today. The final decision depends on your documents and is worth reviewing with an immigration lawyer.

If you have...	Look first at
A job offer of 20 hours a week or more	Work-based arraigo
A partner, parents or children with residence in Spain, and your own means	Social arraigo
An enrolment in vocational training or post-compulsory secondary education	Training-based arraigo
A residence permit that expired less than two years ago	Second chance arraigo
A minor child with the nationality of another EU country	Family arraigo

All options except family arraigo require two years of continuous stay ¹. If you do not have them yet, keep proof with your name and a date from day one, such as your registration on the local population register (padrón).

The regulation also provides a permit for cooperating with the authorities, for people who worked without legal status for at least six months in the previous two years, granted by the central government's office in the region or province (Delegación or Subdelegación del Gobierno) ¹.

Applying. You file the application in person ¹. For work-based arraigo you include the contract signed by you and the employer ¹. The fee on form 790, code 052, for arraigo permits is €38.28 ⁴.

Working while you wait. If you apply for work-based arraigo, from the moment your application is accepted for processing you are provisionally allowed to live in Spain and work as an employee until the decision ¹. If it is granted, it only takes effect once you are registered with Social Security (Seguridad Social) within one month ¹.

Working with the permit. Arraigo lets you work as an employee or self-employed with no limits on region or occupation ¹. Training-based arraigo limits employee work to 30 hours a week in total, paid at least the Spanish minimum wage (salario mínimo interprofesional) or the collective agreement rate ¹.

Renewal. You apply in the two months before the permit expires ¹. Extending second chance, work-based or social arraigo requires you to be actively looking for work and registered with the public employment service, unless an illness, a disability or retirement age prevents you from working; extending training-based arraigo requires you to move on to the second year of basic or intermediate vocational training ¹. The fee to extend or renew these permits is €16.40 ⁴.