Arraigo Social (Social Ties Regularization) — Spain

Arraigo Social is a formal application you submit to Spain’s immigration authority to request residence based on your roots in the country. Since 20 May 2025 it is governed by the new Immigration Regulation — Royal Decree 1155/2024 — which cut the residence requirement from three years to two and moved employment-contract cases to a separate category.

What this authorization is

Arraigo Social (Social Ties Regularization) is a temporary residence authorization for exceptional circumstances. It targets non-EU nationals who have lived in Spain for at least two years and can show roots either through family ties with legal residents or through a favourable social integration report.

It is one of five arraigo categories under RD 1155/2024:

The former Arraigo Laboral (Employment Ties Regularization), based on past employment, was eliminated by the reform. If your case is built around a current employment contract, the correct route is now arraigo sociolaboral — not arraigo social.

Arraigo Social doesn’t substitute for a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, Family Reunification Visa, or Long-Term Residence.

You apply with the official Form EX-10. Always check you’re using the current version.

Who issues and receives it

The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) sets the official process, and your provincial immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería) receives and decides the application.

Arraigo Social is a domestic process. It isn’t handled by Spanish consulates and doesn’t replace visa categories managed from abroad.

Where to download the official form

Steps:

1. Go to the SEM immigration portal (inclusion.gob.es).

2. Open the information sheet (hoja informativa) for arraigo social.

3. Download the EX-10 form and its instructions.

4. Check the version date before filing.

Don’t use forms from third-party sites. SEM updates forms and instructions periodically, and you must file the most recent version. If you’re applying under another arraigo category, get the corresponding hoja informativa from the ministry.

A government fee is required, and the law gives the office three months to decide your Arraigo Social application. Real-world processing times depend on your province and the current workload. Always confirm with SEM before applying.

Application fee (Modelo 790, code 052)

The application fee is paid using Modelo 790, code 052, under the epigraph for temporary residence authorizations for exceptional circumstances by reason of arraigo. As of July 2026, the fee is €38.28.

Keep your proof of payment and include it with your application, alongside Form EX-10. Paying the fee is a legal requirement for the authorization to be granted.

Fees are different for other residence types. The Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, Family Reunification Visa, and Long-Term Residence each have their own fee schedules. Use the ministry’s official fee forms to check before you apply.

Statutory decision period

The legal deadline to decide an arraigo social application is three months, counted from the day after your file enters the register of the competent office. If nothing is notified within that period, the application is deemed refused (negative administrative silence) — you can then appeal or refile.

In practice, busy provinces can take longer than the legal deadline, while smaller offices often decide faster.

After approval, you must apply to the National Police for your TIE (Foreigner Identity Card) within one month of notification. That step adds extra time and a separate card fee.

Variations and verifying current times

The other arraigo categories follow the same three-month statutory period, but real-world timelines differ by office and case complexity.

Applications from abroad, like the Non-Lucrative Residence Visa or Family Reunification Visa, are handled by consulates and follow separate timelines. Those don’t affect arraigo social applications filed inside Spain.

Always confirm:

• The current Modelo 790 (code 052) fee
• Realistic processing estimates in your province
• The TIE appointment requirements after approval

Use official SEM updates, not informal estimates.

Protect your status by meeting strict physical presence and documentation standards. The immigration office checks the continuity of your residence and supporting records when you qualify, when you renew, and when you later move to Long-Term Residence.

Continuous residence and allowed absences

To qualify for arraigo social you must have lived in Spain continuously for at least two years immediately before applying, with total absences of no more than 90 days in that period.

If you leave for longer, the continuity breaks and the clock restarts. The office reviews your presence based on documents, not just your word. Time spent in Spain while an international protection application was pending does not count toward the two years.

Track your travel. Keep tickets, boarding passes, and any records showing your return dates.

Keeping proof of residence (empadronamiento, records)

You’ll need to prove the full two-year period. Weak or missing evidence is a common reason for refusal.

Maintain uninterrupted empadronamiento (municipal registration) for the whole period. Any gap can cause problems.

Keep organized records, such as:

• Updated empadronamiento certificates and registration history
• Official correspondence showing your Spanish address
• Medical, school, banking, or other dated documents confirming presence

Store everything in order and present a clear timeline. If you can’t document your stay, the office may decide you haven’t met the requirement, even if you never left.

After approval: keeping the authorization alive

The authorization lasts one year. To renew it (prórroga), you must generally prove that you are actively seeking work and registered with the public employment service — waived for justified reasons such as illness, disability, or reaching retirement age.

Apply for renewal during the two months before expiry, or within the three months after (a fine is possible in that case). Filing on time extends the validity of your current authorization until the decision.

Avoid:

• Gaps in empadronamiento
• Letting the authorization lapse without filing a renewal or a modification
• Waiting until renewal to gather documents

The same documentation discipline applies whether your status came from Arraigo Social, Arraigo Familiar (Family Ties Regularization), a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, or a Family Reunification Visa.

Arraigo social grants you temporary residence with work authorization, not citizenship. You must keep legal residence and move into longer-term statuses before you can qualify for nationality.

Next steps after this authorization

Arraigo social gives you a one-year residence authorization that includes the right to work — as an employee or self-employed person, anywhere in Spain. Before it expires, you have two main options under the regulation:

• Renew (prórroga) for successive one-year periods, generally by proving active job search and registration with the public employment service
• Modify to an ordinary residence and work authorization under article 191 of the regulation — if you have already held residence for more than a year, the modified authorization works like a renewal and can be issued for four years

If you later bring relatives, you may use the Family Reunification Visa, processed through Spanish consulates.

Keep your residence continuous and avoid gaps. Irregular periods can interrupt your path.

Long-term residence context and requirements

Long-Term Residence lets you live and work in Spain indefinitely, under the law’s conditions. You generally qualify after five years of continuous legal residence.

You’ll need to show:

• Continuous legal residence in Spain for the qualifying period
• No serious criminal record
• Compliance with prior residence conditions
• Valid passport and current TIE

Apply through your immigration office using the designated long-term residence form (EX-11). After approval, the National Police issue your new TIE.

Long-Term Residence puts you in a stronger position before applying for nationality. Nationality is a separate process, with its own residence and integration requirements, handled through the Civil Registry and the Ministry of Justice.

Keep your residence card valid to prove your legal stay in Spain. Renewal requires specific immigration forms and, at times, travel authorization if your new card is pending.

Your residence status—whether Arraigo Social, arraigo sociolaboral (which replaced Arraigo Laboral in May 2025), Arraigo Familiar, Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, Family Reunification Visa, or Long-Term Residence—determines which form you’ll use.

Documents to allow travel while card is processed

If you need to travel while your residence card renewal is pending, request authorization to re-enter using Form EX-13.

This document lets you leave and return while your TIE is under renewal. Without it, you may have issues at the border if your card’s expired.

You’ll typically need:

• Completed EX-13 form
• Proof your renewal application is in process
• Valid passport
• Payment of the applicable fee (see SEM fee schedule)

Submit the request before you travel. The National Police manage TIE issuance; SEM oversees immigration policy.

This travel authorization applies regardless of whether your underlying status is arraigo, family reunification, non-lucrative residence, or long-term residence.

Other EX forms (EX-01, EX-02, EX-13, EX-14, EX-15)

Different residence situations require different official forms. You need to file the correct one based on your legal basis for stay.

If you obtained residence through Arraigo Social, arraigo sociolaboral, or Arraigo Familiar, you might later transition to another residence category. A different EX form may apply in those cases.

For example:

• Use EX-01 if you switch to a non-lucrative residence basis.
• Use EX-02 if you later apply for a Family Reunification Visa for relatives.
• Use EX-14 for temporary movement of a foreign minor.

Confirm the correct form and fee with the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) before filing.

Residence through arraigo social provides legal stability — and, under RD 1155/2024, the authorization comes with full work rights. You must meet strict background and status rules and keep a clean record while the office reviews your file.

Work authorization included

The arraigo social authorization carries the right to work as an employee or a self-employed person, without geographic or occupational limits, for as long as the authorization is valid.

You no longer need an employment contract to access this route — contract-based cases belong to arraigo sociolaboral instead.

Legal checks and character obligations

The office reviews your background before approving your residence authorization. You must show you do not have a criminal record — for offenses recognized in Spanish law — in:

• Spain
• Any country where you lived during the five years before entering Spain

A clean record supports future applications such as Long-Term Residence, a Family Reunification Visa, or a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa. You carry the burden of proving compliance.

Restrictions during the application process

You cannot apply for arraigo social if you are an applicant for international protection — either on the date you file or at any point while the case is processed. Time spent in Spain while a protection application was pending also does not count toward the two-year residence requirement. If you withdraw a pending protection application, you stop being an applicant from that moment.

Since April 2026 (RD 316/2026), you also cannot apply if you already hold a stay or residence authorization, or if you are party to a pending procedure to grant, renew, or modify one.

You must choose one legal route and maintain consistency. Switching procedures mid-process creates conflicts that the office will review carefully.

You improve your approval chances when you seek help early — especially for the social integration report and for proving two clean years of presence and sufficient means.

Most rejections happen due to missing reports, continuity gaps, or filing under the wrong arraigo category.

When a report or expert help is needed

If you don’t have qualifying family ties, you’ll need a favourable social integration report (informe de integración social; informe de arraigo in Catalonia) as part of your application. It is issued by your Autonomous Community — or by your Ayuntamiento where the region has delegated that task.

The administration must issue the report within one month of your request; if it doesn’t, you can prove your integration by other admissible means, provided you document the delay. Even so, request it well before you plan to file Form EX-10.

Seek professional help if:

• Your municipality or region gives unclear instructions
• You face delays in appointments or issuance
• Your report contains errors or incomplete information

A favourable report does not guarantee approval — the immigration office makes the final decision.

Route selection and means questions

Since the 2025 reform, choosing the wrong category is one of the most avoidable errors:

1. You have a current employment contract → your route is arraigo sociolaboral, not arraigo social.

2. You rely on family ties → confirm the relative holds a residence authorization and the tie is a spouse, registered partner, or first-degree direct relative; otherwise you need the integration report.

3. You rely on self-employment → your business project must meet the regulation’s self-employment requirements (article 84).

You must also prove sufficient means — at least 100% of the IPREM, available in Spain — and maintain them throughout the authorization. Get legal review when your means are close to the threshold, come from several sources, or depend on a family member.

Applicants who previously explored Arraigo Laboral (Employment Ties Regularization) (eliminated in May 2025), Arraigo Familiar (Family Ties Regularization), a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, a Family Reunification Visa, or Long-Term Residence should re-check which route fits before filing.

You file your application for arraigo social with the provincial immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería), which applies the rules set by the State Secretariat for Migration (Secretaría de Estado de Migraciones, SEM) under Royal Decree 1155/2024.

Success depends on confirming your eligibility category, completing the correct form, and submitting all required evidence at the time of filing.

Review instructions and eligibility first

Before you complete any paperwork, confirm that arraigo social fits your situation and not another pathway.

The former Arraigo Laboral (Employment Ties Regularization) was eliminated in May 2025 — if your case rests on an employment contract, apply under arraigo sociolaboral instead.

Also remember: since April 2026 you cannot apply for arraigo if you already hold a stay or residence authorization or have such a procedure pending.

Complete, sign and submit the form

You must complete the official application form for exceptional-circumstances residence, Form EX-10.

Follow these steps:

1. Fill out all required sections clearly and accurately.

2. Attach all supporting documents for your route (family-ties evidence or integration report, plus proof of means).

3. Pay the Modelo 790 (code 052) fee within ten working days of filing.

4. Sign the form where indicated.

5. Submit the full application package together.

Incomplete forms or missing evidence trigger correction requests with short deadlines — no more than fifteen days — and unanswered requests end with your file being archived.

You are responsible for ensuring your application is complete when submitted.

Where to file

File in person at the Oficina de Extranjería of the province where you live, or electronically through the Mercurio platform.

Spanish consulates don’t handle arraigo, and no visa is involved. The National Police handle TIE issuance after approval: you must request the card within one month of being notified of the grant.

To qualify for arraigo social, you must meet strict nationality, residence, integration, and means criteria under Royal Decree 1155/2024 (in force since 20 May 2025).

Who cannot apply

You cannot apply if you fall into any of the following categories:

• Citizen of the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, or a family member covered by the EU free-movement regime
• Applicant for international protection at filing or during processing
• Holder of a stay or residence authorization, or party to a pending authorization procedure (rule added in April 2026)
• Person who does not meet the two-year continuous residence requirement

If you qualify for Long-Term Residence, a Family Reunification Visa, or another established status, use that route instead. And if your case is built on a current employment contract, the correct category is arraigo sociolaboral — the successor to the eliminated Arraigo Laboral (Employment Ties Regularization).

You must file the correct application form, Form EX-10, when requesting this authorization.

Minimum continuous residence rules

You must prove continuous residence in Spain for at least two years immediately before applying — reduced from three years by RD 1155/2024.

During this period, your absences from Spain cannot exceed 90 days in total. Time spent in Spain while an international protection application was pending does not count.

“Continuous” means you maintained your life in Spain without relocating abroad. Short trips are permitted within the 90-day limit, but longer or repeated absences break continuity.

You must document your stay with reliable evidence, such as:

• Municipal registration (empadronamiento) records
• Medical or school records
• Other official documents showing presence in Spain

If you cannot prove the full two-year period, the application will be refused.

Integration and means: the two routes

Beyond presence, you must show roots in Spain through one of two routes:

1. Family ties: a spouse or registered partner, or first-degree direct-line relatives (parents or children), who are foreign nationals holding a residence authorization in Spain.

2. Integration effort: a favourable social integration report issued by your Autonomous Community (or your Ayuntamiento where delegated). The report covers your time at your habitual address, your means, and your participation in socio-labor and cultural integration programs, and must be issued within one month of your request.

On either route you must prove sufficient economic means — at least 100% of the IPREM — available in Spain and maintained throughout the authorization. (The ministry’s arraigo guide lists the monthly IPREM at €600; the value is set annually in the state budget.) The means may come from the qualifying family members, and self-employment income counts if your project meets the regulation’s self-employment requirements (article 84).

No employment contract is required — that is the defining change from the pre-2025 arraigo social, and the authorization you receive includes the right to work as an employee or self-employed person.

This distinguishes arraigo social from a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa (passive means, no work) and from arraigo sociolaboral (contract-based). If your eligibility depends on ties to EU/EEA/Swiss nationals, consider Arraigo Familiar (Family Ties Regularization) instead.

Most rejections result from missing mandatory documents, weak proof of residence, or filing under the wrong category after the 2025 reform.

Common reasons applications fail

The most frequent rejection involves failing to include the social integration report when you rely on the integration route. Without it — or without proof that you requested it and the administration missed its one-month issuance deadline — your file lacks a core element.

Another common problem is insufficient proof of continuous presence in Spain. If you cannot demonstrate two uninterrupted years (absences of 90 days or fewer), your application lacks a core eligibility element.

New failure modes since RD 1155/2024:

• Applying for arraigo social when your case rests on an employment contract — that is now arraigo sociolaboral
• Means below 100% of the IPREM, not available in Spain, or not maintained
• Applying while holding another authorization or a pending procedure (barred since April 2026)
• Counting time spent as an international protection applicant toward the two years

Errors in Form EX-10 or incomplete submissions create additional risk — correction requests carry deadlines of no more than fifteen days.

How to avoid the most frequent rejections

Request your integration report from your Autonomous Community or Ayuntamiento well before filing. The administration should issue it within one month, but delays happen — and you must document them if you want to rely on alternative evidence.

Maintain uninterrupted empadronamiento during the entire two-year period. Avoid gaps, even short ones.

Use this checklist before submission:

• ✅ Family-ties evidence or favourable social integration report
• ✅ Continuous empadronamiento and supporting evidence covering two full years
• ✅ Proof of means of at least 100% of the IPREM, available in Spain
• ✅ Criminal record certificates (five years before entry), legalized and translated
• ✅ Fully completed and signed EX-10 form, plus the €38.28 fee receipt

Apply the same document discipline you would use for other residence processes, such as a Non-Lucrative Residence Visa, Family Reunification Visa, or Long-Term Residence. Incomplete files lead to preventable refusals.

You’ll need to prove two years of continuous residence, show a clean criminal record, and document either qualifying family ties or your social integration — plus sufficient means. These are the core documents for your arraigo social application under Royal Decree 1155/2024.

Proof of continuous residence

You need to show that you’ve lived in Spain for at least two years before applying, with absences totalling no more than 90 days. Your documents must clearly display your name and cover the entire period.

Gaps in your paperwork create problems, so keep records in chronological order and favor official Spanish documents that confirm physical presence. Remember that time spent as an international protection applicant doesn’t count toward the two years.

Each document should help build an unbroken timeline. The office may ask for clarification if your evidence isn’t clear, and incomplete timelines often delay cases.

Criminal record certificates

You’ll need a certificate from every country where you lived during the five years before entering Spain, covering offenses recognized under Spanish law. Spanish records are checked ex officio by the immigration office.

You’re exempt from third-country certificates if you’ve stayed in Spain continuously for the last five years, or if you already proved this in an application within the past five years and haven’t left Spain since.

Foreign documents must be legalized or apostilled and translated by a sworn translator. Request them early — processing times vary by country.

Family ties or the social integration report

Route 1 — family ties: civil documentation proving the qualifying relationship (spouse, registered partner, or first-degree direct relative) and that relative’s residence authorization in Spain.

Route 2 — integration report: a favourable informe de integración social issued by your Autonomous Community, or by your Ayuntamiento where the region has delegated it. The administration must issue it within one month of your request; if it doesn’t, keep proof of the request — you may then justify integration by any admissible evidence.

This report is unique to the arraigo pathways and isn’t required for the Non-Lucrative Residence Visa or Family Reunification Visa. Unlike the pre-2025 rules — and unlike the eliminated Arraigo Laboral (Employment Ties Regularization) route — no job offer or employment contract is required for arraigo social.