All foreigners who can demonstrate a parental link with a minor who is a national of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, or who support a person with a disability of those same nationalities, can apply for family arraigo. In this article, you will discover everything you must know about the family arraigo residency, including all major updates and new advantages of this permit.
Key takeaways
- What it is: a residence authorisation for exceptional circumstances that lets you live and work in Spain for 5 years, as an employee or self-employed, and that you request while in an irregular situation.
- Who can apply: the parent of a minor from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, that minor’s legal guardian, or someone who supports a dependent EU person with a disability.
- Requirements: no criminal record, no entry ban, being in Spain when you apply, proving the family link and not having a pending application for international protection.
- Not required: no previous period of residence in Spain and no financial means or work contract, so you could apply after just 1 or 2 weeks in the country.
- How to apply: from Spain, with form EX-10 and the 790/052 fee, online through the Mercurio platform with a digital certificate; the administration has 3 months to reply.
- After 5 years: you can apply for long-term residency or, only in specific, limited situations, extend your family arraigo for 1 year.
What is the family arraigo residency?
The arraigo familiar or family arraigo is a residence authorization due to exceptional circumstances (one type of arraigo in Spain) that grants the possibility to live and work in Spain for 5 years to those non-EU foreigners who can demonstrate a parental link with a minor from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland.
When it comes to requirements, the application process is quite simple.
And if we also take into account that this authorization must be obtained while the foreigner is in an irregular situation (it is not necessary to request a visa to enter Spain), it turns out to be one of the most favorable paths to residency for many.
In addition to being a 5-year card, another of its great advantages is that it allows you to work in Spanish territory both as a freelancer (i.e., registering yourself as a self-employed worker and offering your services as an independent professional) and as an employee of a Spanish company.
Together with the other types of arraigo, the family arraigo is regulated in articles 126 and 127 of RD 1155/2024 and the instructions that develop it: SEM 1/2025 and SEM 2/2025.
Family members of Spanish citizens will apply for residency through a new authorization. If you want to know more, here you can access an article in which we talk about this great novelty, where you can find all its advantages and requirements in detail.
How to obtain the family arraigo: all scenarios
Below we analyze the complete list of foreigners who can apply for this residency authorization, taking into account that what they all have in common is a parental link with an EU minor or a legal responsibility link with a dependent EU person with a disability as a key requirement.
Family arraigo through having an EU child
If you are a foreigner but your child is Italian, German, French or from any country of the European Union, you could apply for your family roots.
Guardian of a minor or support person
Finally, we find 2 cases that, although unusual, are brand new within the family arraigo regulation in Spain.
Both the legal guardian or tutor of a non-Spanish child from the EU, the EEA or Switzerland (who is not his or her parent, but his or her representative for legal purposes) and a foreigner who provides support on a daily basis to a person with a disability can also apply for family roots, even if they do not have a blood relationship with him or her.
In the first case, the guardian must also be in charge of the minor’s parental obligations; and in the second case, the supporting person must prove the dependency of the disabled person.
Do you have any questions so far? If that is the case, ask us anything:
Requirements for arraigo familiar
In addition to being in any one of the abovementioned cases, there are a series of requirements that must also be met in order to successfully apply for this “arraigo familiar” in Spain:
- You must not have criminal or police records, both in Spain and in any other country where you have lived for the past 5 years
- You can’t have the entry to Spain prohibited
- Demonstrate the kinship bond
- You can’t be a citizen of any EU country
- You must be in Spain at the moment of your application (since you cannot apply for this residency from your country of origin), even if you are in an irregular situation
- Not be an applicant for international protection with a case pending a final decision
Bear in mind that, unlike other arraigos, in this case it is not necessary to demonstrate any previous period of time lived in Spain; therefore, you could apply for this authorization after just 1 or 2 weeks in the country.
Another advantage of this permit is that it does NOT require financial means (another big difference in relation to before, when it was requested through the community card).
That is to say, it will not be necessary to provide a work contract or to demonstrate the possession of sufficient economic funds in your bank account.
Documents you will have to submit
As this is a simple procedure, there are not a large number of documents that you will have to submit together with your application.
But which are exactly those documents?
- Application form EX-10
- Criminal record certificate from your country of origin
- Your passport (including a copy)
- Proof of payment of the mandatory tax (790/052)
- The birth certificate of your EU, EEA or Swiss child (if you find yourself under this category)
- Document of guardianship of the minor in the case of being his legal representative
- Documentation accrediting the disability of the EU citizen, or the need for support measures for the exercise of their legal capacity in the case of the last case we have seen
We also recommend providing a joint census registration (“empadronamiento”) with the EU family member (minor or person with a disability) you live with.
It is important to mention that any foreign document must be translated into Spanish and legalized/apostilled. This will especially apply in the case of birth certificates.
Application procedure step-by-step
The first thing to keep in mind is that the process to apply for your arraigo familiar must be initiated from Spain, and never from abroad.
Therefore, the applicant must have traveled to Spanish territory before submitting his/her file.
Once you have all the documents ready, you must prepare and submit them to the Immigration Office corresponding to your usual residence.
Nowadays, this application can be carried out online.
This is undoubtedly great news, as the process will go much faster and you will get your resolution in less time. You can submit all the paperwork online using your digital certificate through the Mercurio platform.
The exact resolution time will vary depending on the immigration office where you have initiated the procedure (those in big cities will be slower as they have much more applications to analyze).
However, this is a procedure that does not usually take very long, so you could get the resolution in just a few weeks.
Legally, the administration has a total of 3 months to issue a resolution. If you have not received a response after this time, your file will be considered denied due to negative administrative silence.
Once you get your favorable resolution, you must then apply for your physical card (TIE).
To do so, you will need to go back to the immigration office with your passport, the positive resolution, the EX-17 form, the 790-012 fee paid, and 3 passport photographs.
What if my application gets rejected?
It is unusual for your application for a family arraigo to get rejected, because if you carefully read this article and make sure you meet all the requirements you should not have any problems.
However, it is possible that for some reason your application is rejected.
In that case, you will have two different options:
- File an administrative appeal within a month of the first resolution
- Go directly to court by filing a contentious-administrative appeal within two months of the first resolution.
Undertaking an appeal, whatever type it may be, can be a tedious and complicated task.
What is the best option then?
You will choose one route or the other depending on your particular situation, although in many cases it may be advisable not to use either of these two paths in order to avoid wasting time and money.
That is why our recommendation is that you contact our lawyers so that we can assess your situation.
We will analyze if it is really necessary to initiate an appeal (if so, we will see what type), or if it would be advisable to opt for other alternative ways to end up getting the residence in Spain under an easier option.
Renewal process
Once the total duration of this card is over (which we have seen is 5 years), the time to renew will arrive.
How does it work?
You have two options:
- Apply for long-term residency (for an additional 5 years), since you will have already resided legally in Spain for 5 years.
- Extend your family ties-based residency for 1 year; this can only be done in specific, limited situations, and you’ll need to consult an expert to do so. In any case, this is the least recommended option.
If you need legal assistance with your application, our lawyers are at your complete disposal. We will manage everything on your behalf so you just need to sign!
Choose the date that suits you best for a consultation with our lawyers, and let us guide you step by step.
At Balcells Group we have been foreigners effortlessly moving to Spain for over 11 years. We help expats from all around the world with their immigration, business, tax and legal needs; ensuring a legally safe and enjoyable transition to the Spanish territory. Our multilingual team understands the importance of adapting to the cultural and legal specificities of our international clients. We offer a comprehensive service that combines the expertise of several generations of lawyers with the innovation needed to address today’s legal challenges, always striving to simplify processes and ensure reliable, effective results.
