# Arraigo in Spain > Page: https://www.usebooka.com/en/tramites/espana/arraigo > Last reviewed: 2026-09-14 Arraigo is the route in Spain's Immigration Regulation (art. 125, RD 1155/2024) to regularise the status of people already living in the country. Under the current reform there are five routes — second chance, work-based (sociolaboral), social, training-based and family — and the required prior residence is, as a general rule, 2 years; family arraigo has no minimum. Each route has different requirements (a contract, means, training or family ties), so the first step is not filling in a form: it is determining which arraigo actually fits your case. That assessment is part of the service. All five cost the same, so the initial assessment cannot make your case more expensive: we determine which route applies to you without the answer changing what you pay. - **Booka fee:** €440 - **Official fees:** 38,28 €. Fee 790-052, heading 2.3.1: €38.28 for all five arraigo routes (Order PJC/617/2025, in force as of September 2026). - **Where to apply:** Applied for from within Spain. A fully domestic procedure: applied for from within Spain. ## At a glance | | | | --- | --- | | What it is | Temporary residence authorisation on exceptional grounds, in any of its five routes. | | Who can apply | People already living in Spain whose situation fits one of the five routes in art. 125 of the current regulation. (As a general rule 2 years of residence are required; family arraigo has no minimum.) | | The five routes | Second chance, work-based (sociolaboral), social, training-based and family. | | Where you apply | From within Spain. No need to leave the country or visit a consulate. | | Official form | EX-10, ticking the box for the route that applies. | | Can you work? | It depends on the route: they do not all grant work rights on the same terms. (The initial assessment settles this before anything is filed.) | | Length of the permit | 1 year as a general rule; 5 years for family arraigo. | | Government fee | Official fees are paid separately and itemised in your case file. (The 790-012 TIE fee comes at the end, once the permit is granted.) | ## Who it is for **This is your procedure if:** - You have lived in Spain for 2 years or more and do not know which arraigo route applies to you. - You can obtain a historical padrón certificate covering that period. - Your case does not fit neatly into work-based arraigo: no contract, or your ground is family ties or training. - You held a residence permit within the last 2 years and could not renew it. **This is not your procedure if:** - You already have a contract of at least 20 hours a week and 2 documented years: that is work-based arraigo, directly. - You do not live in Spain yet: arraigo is built on time actually spent here. - You already hold a valid residence permit: yours is a renewal. - You are waiting for the 2026 extraordinary regularisation: it was approved, but its application window closed on 30 June 2026 and can no longer be filed. Go straight to arraigo sociolaboral: https://www.usebooka.com/en/tramites/espana/arraigo-sociolaboral ## Requirements - **Identifying which of the five routes fits.** This is not one procedure with one checklist: it is five separate routes with separate requirements. Filing under the wrong one cannot be corrected along the way — it ends in a refusal and you start again. That is why the assessment comes first and is not an add-on. - **Two years of documented residence.** That is the general rule under the current regulation, which lowered the bar from 3 years to 2. Family arraigo is the exception and has no minimum. The main evidence is the historical padrón certificate: request it on day one, because it is the slowest document and the one that exposes any gaps. - **The requirement specific to your route.** Work-based arraigo rests on one or more contracts adding up to at least 20 hours a week; social arraigo on means and integration; training-based arraigo on enrolment in a course; family arraigo on the family tie. Knowing which one applies decides what documents are gathered and in what order. - **No criminal record.** Certificates are required from every country where you lived during the last 5 years, not just your own. They expire quickly, so they are requested once the rest of the file is on track: asking too early means asking twice, legalisation included. - **Identity documents in order.** A complete, valid passport and form EX-10 with the right box ticked. Foreign documents need a sworn translation and whatever legalisation or apostille their country requires: without it they count as not submitted. - **Time that does not count.** Time spent as an international protection applicant does not count towards residence until that application is finally decided. It is one of the checks in the initial assessment, because it changes the date from which you can file at all. ## Documents **Lo que pide prácticamente cualquier vía de arraigo** - Empadronamiento histórico (la prueba de tu permanencia) - Pasaporte completo - Certificado de antecedentes penales de los países donde hayas residido los últimos 5 años - Según la vía: contrato de trabajo, matrícula de formación o acreditación de vínculos familiares (optional) The final checklist depends on which arraigo route fits your case: the initial assessment determines it, and your portal case file lists it in full before anything is filed. ## Stages of the file 1. **Application.** You upload your documents to the portal. We tell you what is missing and what will not work before any deadline starts. 2. **Review.** Booka reviews the complete file before filing it. This is the step that keeps it from being returned. 3. **Filed.** Booka Legal, as your representative, files the application on the Mercurio platform of the Public Administrations e-office, with a digital certificate. You need no certificate or Cl@ve. You see the date and the receipt in your case file. 4. **Decision.** The Immigration Office decides and notifies through DEHú (also visible in Carpeta Ciudadana). The next steps towards the TIE card are explained in your case file. ## Timelines | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | Assessment of your route | Days | Determines which arraigo is viable and what documents are needed. It does not change what you pay. | | Gathering the documents | 2 to 6 weeks | Set by the padrón certificate and the criminal records from your country. | | Review and case preparation | A few days | The file is not submitted until it is complete. | | Filing | Subject to appointment availability | Officially registered, with the receipt visible in your case file. | | Decision by the administration | Legal period of 3 months | That is the legal period, not a forecast: each immigration office moves at its own pace. | | TIE card (fingerprints and card) | After a favourable decision | Appointment and the 790-012 fee separately, with the permit already granted. | The administration's timelines are nobody else's to promise, and pretending otherwise would be a lie. What is in our hands is everything before: picking the right route and filing complete first time, which is where most of the months are lost. ## Common mistakes - **Filing under the wrong arraigo route** — Each route has its own requirements and you cannot switch mid-file: it ends in a refusal and a fresh start, with the fees and certificates wasted. - **Counting asylum-applicant time inside the 2 years** — That period does not count until the application is finally decided, so residence falls below the minimum and the file fails even if the padrón looks right. - **A padrón history with gaps** — If the record does not cover an unbroken period, residence is not evidenced. Catching it early leaves room to gather alternative proof; catching it at filing does not. - **Criminal record certificates expired by filing time** — They arrive with short validity: requesting them at the start and filing months later means requesting them again, with the apostille and the postage all over. - **Paying for the mass regularisation from the news** — The two extraordinary windows opened by Royal Decree 316/2026 — twentieth and twenty-first additional provisions — stopped accepting applications on 30 June 2026. Anyone charging today to file them is charging for a closed procedure. - **Foreign documents without sworn translation or apostille** — They count as not submitted. It is the most common correction request in this field and the most avoidable, since it is fixed before any clock starts. ## Next Arraigo grants 1 year of residence — 5 in the family route. Before it expires you renew, and the renewal costs less than the arraigo and grants a 4-year card. From then on the time counts as legal residence, which is what can later open the door to citizenship.: https://www.usebooka.com/en/tramites/espana/renovacion-residencia-trabajo ## FAQ **Is this the mass regularisation from the news?** Not any more. That measure did exist: Royal Decree 316/2026 added two temporary routes to the regulation — the twentieth and twenty-first additional provisions — and both accepted applications «until 30 June 2026», so that window is closed. What we handle are the five ordinary arraigo routes in the Immigration Regulation, which remain open with no closing date. If someone charges you today to file the extraordinary one, they are charging for a procedure that no longer accepts applications. **What is arraigo and who qualifies?** Arraigo is the legal route for people already living in Spain: five types exist under art. 125 of the current regulation, generally requiring 2 years of continuous residence. Which one fits depends on your contract, training or family ties. **Which arraigo applies if I have no job offer?** Not all routes require a contract: social and training-based arraigo are built on other requirements. With your padrón history we tell you which route is viable — and if none is yet, we tell you that too. **Does time without papers count?** Time living in Spain counts towards the 2 years and is evidenced mainly through the padrón. Time as an asylum applicant, however, does not count until that application is finally decided. **How long do I need to have been in Spain?** As a general rule, 2 years of continuous residence — it used to be 3. Family arraigo is the exception and requires no minimum period. Residence is evidenced mainly through the historical padrón certificate. **What is second-chance arraigo?** It is the route for people who held a residence permit within the previous 2 years and could not renew it, for reasons other than public order. It restores legal status without restarting the count from zero, and it is the route most often overlooked. **What is the difference between social and work-based arraigo?** Work-based arraigo is built on one or more contracts adding up to at least 20 hours a week. Social arraigo does not revolve around a contract but around means and documented integration. Choosing wrong between the two causes more refusals than anything else. **Does it cost more if my route turns out to be the complicated one?** No. All five routes cost the same, so the initial assessment cannot make your case more expensive: it identifies which arraigo applies without the answer changing what you pay. **Can I apply if I entered on a tourist visa that has expired?** Arraigo exists precisely for people who have been living in Spain for some time, regardless of how they entered. What decides the case is documented residence and the requirement specific to the route, not the permit you arrived on. **What changed with Royal Decree 316/2026?** It is the reform of the Immigration Regulation in force since 16 April 2026. Three changes affect arraigo. First, article 130.5: in arraigo sociolaboral, once the application is admitted for processing and until it is decided, the applicant is provisionally allowed to reside and work as an employee, and the notice starting the procedure states so. Second, article 126.h): you cannot apply for arraigo while holding another stay or residence permit, or while another permit procedure is open. Third, article 132.2.a): extending arraigo de segunda oportunidad, sociolaboral and social requires evidence of active job-seeking and registration with the public employment service, unless justified circumstances prevent access to work, such as illness, disability or legal retirement age. **I read about an extraordinary arraigo in 2026. Am I still in time?** No. Royal Decree 316/2026 added two temporary routes: the twentieth additional provision, for people who had applied for international protection before 1 January 2026, and the twenty-first, an extraordinary arraigo for people present in Spain before that same date. Both stated that the permit «may be applied for until 30 June 2026», so that window has closed. If you have read that they are still open, that information is out of date. What remains available are the five ordinary arraigo routes, which have no closing date. **How long does a decision take, and what if there is no answer?** The maximum period to notify is 3 months from the day after the application enters the register of the competent body (seventh additional provision). After that, silence is negative and the application is deemed refused (eighth additional provision). The appeal window opens from there. **How many documents does the file contain?** It depends on the route. There is a common core — historical padrón certificate, complete passport and criminal record certificates from every country where you lived in the last 5 years — and on top of it whatever the route requires: a contract, enrolment or proof of the family tie. **Can I pay in two instalments?** Yes, with no interest or surcharge: the total is identical either way. The first half opens your case and starts the document review; the second is paid when we file your application — if we have not filed, you do not pay it. You request it from your case file and someone from the team confirms it within 24 working hours. **Are official government fees included?** No: Booka's fee covers review, preparation, filing and follow-up. Government fees are paid directly to the administration, and we tell you which ones apply and when inside your case file. **How do I know this is not a scam?** Three things you can check: the price is published before you pay, payment is online with an invoice, and the second half is only charged once your application has been filed, with the official registry receipt visible in your case file. No informal intermediary gives you those three proofs. ## Official source Official source: articles 125-127 of the Immigration Regulation (RD 1155/2024, consolidated text) and information sheets 27-31, Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.: https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2024-24099 ## What the fee includes Document review, case preparation, filing and follow-up until the decision. ## Notice Booka's fees cover the professional handling of your application only and do not include official government fees, which are paid separately to the relevant authority. Approval of any permit rests solely with the competent administration and depends on the applicant meeting all legal requirements. The information on this page is for guidance only, may change as regulations evolve, and does not constitute individual legal advice.