Arraigo in Spain (2026): types, requirements and the appointments you need

What arraigo is, in short

Arraigo is a temporary residence authorisation for exceptional circumstances, for people who are already in Spain without authorisation and have ties to the place where they live: family, work, training or social ties. It needs no visa and you apply from inside the country.

Since 20 May 2025 it has been governed by the new immigration regulation (Real Decreto 1155/2024), which left five types and cut the general stay requirement from three years to two.

The five types of arraigo

Arraigo social. For people with close family who are resident in Spain, or who can prove their integration. You have to prove your tie to a spouse, registered partner or first-degree relatives, and means of at least 100% of the IPREM. Without those ties, a favourable social integration report.
Arraigo sociolaboral (work). For people with a job offer: one or more contracts adding up to at least 20 hours a week, at the minimum wage or the collective agreement rate.
Arraigo socioformativo (training). For people who are going to study: being enrolled in or attending one of the courses the regulation accepts, or committing to take one run by the public employment services, plus the social integration report.
Arraigo de segunda oportunidad (second chance). For people who had residence and lost it: having held, in the previous two years, a residence authorisation (other than one for exceptional circumstances) that was not renewed.
Arraigo familiar (family). For the father, mother or guardian of a minor from another EU or EEA country or Switzerland, or for someone who supports a person with a disability of those nationalities and has them in their care.

All are granted for one year, except familiar, which lasts five.

If you are searching for "arraigo laboral", "arraigo por formación" or "arraigo familiar"

The names changed with the regulation, and many people still search for the old ones:

"Arraigo laboral" is no longer one of the types. If what you have is an employment contract, your route is arraigo sociolaboral.
"Arraigo por formación" or "para la formación" is now arraigo socioformativo.
"Arraigo familiar" still exists, but it now only covers people who have in their care a minor or a person with a disability from another EU or EEA country or Switzerland. Family members of Spanish nationals no longer go through arraigo: they have an authorisation of their own, temporary residence for family members of people with Spanish nationality.

Common requirements

On top of what each type asks for, article 126 of the regulation requires everyone to:

Be in Spain and not be an applicant for international protection, either when you apply or while the application is being processed.
Have stayed in Spain continuously for the previous two years. Time spent as an applicant for international protection does not count. Arraigo familiar has no minimum stay.
Have no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before you entered.
Not already hold a stay or residence authorisation, or have another immigration application in progress. This requirement was added in April 2026 (Real Decreto 316/2026).
Have paid the fee.

What it lets you do

The authorisation comes with permission to work, employed or self-employed, anywhere in Spain and in any occupation. The exception is arraigo socioformativo, which allows employed work of up to 30 hours a week.

Arraigo sociolaboral has one more advantage: from the moment your application is admitted for processing until it is decided, you can live and work as an employee on a provisional basis.

The arraigo appointments, step by step

Filing the application. You file at the extranjería office of the province where you are registered (empadronado). If you have a digital certificate or Cl@ve, or a representative who does, you can file online and skip this appointment entirely; it is the best time investment in the whole process. Without a certificate, you need a filing appointment, among the most contested on the portal.
Fingerprints (toma de huellas). This comes with the approval: a fingerprint appointment at the Comisaría de Policía Nacional serving your province of residence. It has no online shortcut, because fingerprints are always given in person.
TIE card pickup. At the same office where you gave your fingerprints, with its own appointment. We cover the two TIE appointments in detail here.

Where it actually gets stuck

The typical case does not get stuck on the requirements but on step 2: the fingerprint appointment. Demand concentrates on the same comisarías that handle every other procedure, and in the big provinces each batch of slots disappears in minutes. Scarcity is not uniform: check your province's real pattern, with the days that had availability and the most frequent time bands, before assuming that "there is nothing".

The rules for getting one are the same as for any extranjería cita previa: search your whole province rather than a single office, spread your attempts over your province's strong time band, and have your details ready so you do not lose an appointment you have already found. Here is the full guide to booking fast.

You can also create an alert for your province and procedure, and you will get a notification by email or Telegram when our checks find available appointments. You book it yourself on the official portal, free: Cita Ping does not book for you and cannot guarantee you an appointment.

A note on the "extraordinary regularisation"

Arraigo under the regulation and the 2026 extraordinary regularisation are different processes. The regularisation (Real Decreto 316/2026) had its application window between April and 30 June 2026, now closed. What happens to those applications now is here. If you did not manage to file and your case fits arraigo, this is the ordinary route that remains open.