Regularización 2026: what to apply for when your permit expires

This page is for people who obtained the residence and work permit (autorización de residencia y trabajo) from the regularización extraordinaria (extraordinary regularisation): the arraigo extraordinario (extraordinary residence through ties) under additional provision 21 of the Reglamento de extranjería (Spain's immigration regulations), applied for with the EX-32, or the arraigo for applicants for international protection under provision 20, with the EX-31. Both were created by Real Decreto 316/2026 (Royal Decree) of 14 April, and applications ran from 16 April to 30 June 2026. That window has closed; what comes now is the next step.

How long it lasts and when the clock starts

The permit has “a validity of one year” and lets you live and work, as an employee or self-employed, anywhere in Spain and in any sector (additional provisions 20 and 21, section 10). The year does not start with the resolución (decision): the same rule says that, once the permit is granted, its effect is backdated to the day you submitted your application. The applicants' guide from Barcelona City Council (Ayuntamiento de Barcelona) explains it the same way: the year is counted from the submission, not from when the case was opened or from the resolución favorable (approval).

Because applications were submitted between 16 April and 30 June 2026, almost all of these permits expire between mid-April and late June 2027, and the window for the next step opens, for the earliest ones, in mid-February. If you still have no decision, you are still allowed to live and work: on 22 July 2026 the Ministry clarified that silencio administrativo (no reply within the legal deadline) does not take away your provisional authorisation; only an express refusal does (administrative silence explained).

It is not a renewal: it is a modification

Almost everyone says “renew”, but the rule says something else. In the two months before expiry, holders of the arraigo extraordinario “must apply for a modification under article 191” of the Reglamento (the provision for applicants for international protection says “may”). The Ministry sums it up in its questions and answers: the permit is not renewable and has to be modified. The modification takes you to a four-year residence and work permit. Only if you cannot modify is there the prórroga (extension).

What qualifies you for the modification

The modification requires the same as renewing a work permit (arts. 80 and 86 of the Reglamento). As an employee, one of these is enough:

• You are still in the job you got the permit with.
• You have worked at least three months during the year and now have a contract with another employer and are registered with Social Security (de alta); or a signed contract that will start once the modification is granted; or you lost your job through no fault of your own and have since been continuously registered as a job seeker.
• You have worked and paid Social Security contributions for nine months within a twelve-month period.
• You receive contributory unemployment benefit or a public social or employment integration benefit.
• A family member who could bring you over through family reunification (reagrupación) has the financial means that reunification requires (how much that is in 2026).
• Your contract ended or was suspended because you were a victim of gender-based or sexual violence.

If you are self-employed, it counts to carry on with your business with your tax (Hacienda) and Social Security payments up to date, to have been granted cessation-of-activity protection (cese de actividad), or to have a family member with those means, among other cases (art. 86). If you are missing a requirement, the office takes into account the informe de esfuerzo de integración (integration effort report) from your comunidad autónoma (sheet 55). And if you have children of compulsory school age, you must prove that they attend school.

When to apply and what happens if you are late

1. Before the two months

   Prepare, don't apply

   The rule opens the window in the two months before expiry. Before that, gather your documents.

2. The two months before

   Normal window

   Applying on time extends your permit until they decide, however long they take.

3. Up to three months after

   Late window

   It is accepted and also extends the permit, but the delay is a minor offence: a fine of up to €500 (arts. 52.b and 55.1.a of the Ley de extranjería, the Immigration Act).

4. More than three months after

   Out of time

   Having an expired permit for more than three months without having applied is a serious offence, with a fine of €501 to €10,000 (arts. 53.1.a and 55.1.b), and the art. 191 modification requires you to be in temporary residence status.

You submit the modification at the Oficina de Extranjería (immigration office) in your province or online, through Mercurio, and the employer hiring you can also submit it (art. 191.5). The office has three months to decide; if it does not reply, the application is deemed refused (sheet 55), but your permit remains extended as long as there is no decision. Once it is granted, you must be registered with Social Security within the month after the notification and, within the month after registering, apply for the new TIE with the EX-17 and the tasa 790-012.

What to prepare now

The official figures

The Government estimated around 500,000 beneficiaries and set up the process to handle up to 752,250 applications (report «Regularización extraordinaria: claves económicas y sociales», April 2026): more than twice as many applications as that estimate came in. By region, Catalonia (257,602), Madrid (202,424), the Valencian Community (167,286) and Andalusia (161,557); by nationality, Colombia (25.9%), Morocco (13.3%) and Venezuela (11.8%).

What there is not, as of 14 October 2026, is an official figure for permits granted: the Ministry has not published it, and it determines how many will need to be modified or extended in 2027. Of the applications submitted online (83.2%), 58% were submitted by lawyers, 16.8% by authorised civil servants (funcionarios habilitados), 8.4% by gestores administrativos (licensed administrative agents) and 7.3% by the applicants themselves.

If you handle regularisation cases

• Submission date, not decision date. Each expiry is the 2026 registration date plus one year: counting from the decision, you would warn the client too late.
• A calendar from February to September 2027. The first windows open in mid-February; the last ones close, by then with a possible penalty, at the end of September.
• Sort cases before the window. Modification as an employee or self-employed, extension or extraordinary extension: decide with each client's work history in hand, not in the week of expiry.