Arraigo Residence Permit in Valencia

The basics

Arraigo is a temporary residence permit for exceptional circumstances, granted to foreigners who are already in Spain and have real ties with the place where they live: work, family, social life or training. No visa is needed (article 31.3 of Organic Law 4/2000). The rules are in articles 124 to 132 of Royal Decree 1155/2024, in force since 20 May 2025 and amended by Royal Decree 316/2026 from 16 April 2026. Article 125 lists five types: second chance, sociolaboral, social, socioformativo and family. The permit lasts one year, except family arraigo, which lasts five, and under article 131 it lets you work for an employer or for yourself anywhere in Spain; the socioformativo permit is the exception, limited to 30 hours a week of employed work.

Every type shares the conditions in article 126: being in Spain, not having an asylum claim open, two years of continuous presence before filing (family arraigo needs none), no criminal record in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the five years before you arrived, and paying the fee. Since April 2026 you also cannot hold another stay or residence permit, or have one pending, when you apply (article 126.h). Then each type adds its own test in article 127: a past permit for second chance, a job contract for sociolaboral, family links or an integration report for social, enrolment in approved training for socioformativo, and an EU child or relative for family arraigo.

For anyone living in the province, the case is decided by the Oficina de Extranjería de Valencia; the police list places arraigo at its office in Calle Motilla del Palancar 23, and files can also be lodged online through Mercurio. Proof of time in Spain is built from dated documents, and your padrón certificate is usually one of them. Once granted, you have one month to apply for the TIE card; Valencia city residents give fingerprints at the Comisaría de Patraix, Calle Els Gremis 6.

Who it is for

• People who have lived in Valencia for two years or more without a permit.
• Former residents whose permit lapsed for reasons other than public order.
• Workers with a job offer of at least 20 hours a week.
• People enrolled in vocational, adult or employment-service training.
• Parents of a child with EU, EEA or Swiss nationality living in Spain.

Paperwork checklist

• A complete copy of your valid passport.
• The official application form, signed.
• Dated evidence of two continuous years in Spain (not needed for family arraigo).
• A criminal record certificate from the countries where you lived in the five years before entering Spain, legalised and translated.
• The document for your type: the job contract, proof of enrolment, family ties and means, or the birth certificate of the EU child.
• The integration report from the regional authority, for social arraigo without family ties and for socioformativo.
• The paid 790 fee form.

The foreign criminal record is not required if you have spent the last five years continuously in Spain (article 130.2). We tell you exactly which papers your type needs before you order anything abroad.

Step by step with us

1. Choosing the type. We look at your dates, past permits, job and family and tell you which of the five arraigo types you can actually meet.
2. Proving the time. We sort your dated documents into a clear two-year timeline and spot the gaps before the office does.
3. The file. We prepare the form, the fee and the evidence for your type, including the contract checks or the integration report request.
4. After filing. We track the file with the Valencia office, answer any request for more papers within the deadline and, after approval, book your TIE fingerprints at the police station for your address.

Waiting times in Valencia

The office has three months from the day your application enters its register to decide and notify (Royal Decree 1155/2024, additional provision 7.1). If it does not answer in that time, the application is treated as refused: arraigo is a first permit, so silence is negative (additional provision 8 of the Regulation and additional provision 1.1 of Organic Law 4/2000). If papers are missing, the office gives you a deadline of no more than fifteen days to complete them, or the file is closed (article 130.3).

Your current status matters while you wait. Sociolaboral applicants get extra protection: once the application is admitted, you may live and work for an employer provisionally until the decision (article 130.5). After a grant you have one month to ask for the TIE (article 130.6), and a sociolaboral permit only takes effect once you are registered with the Social Security within one month of notification. Extensions, one year at a time, are requested in the two months before expiry (article 132.3); for second chance, sociolaboral and social arraigo they require active job seeking and registration with the public employment service, unless illness, disability or retirement age prevents it (article 132.2). Our residence renewal service covers that step.

Living outside Valencia city? We handle this for the whole region: see our local pages for Gandia, Alicante and Castellón, or the Valencian Community overview.

Fee for our help

Ask for a quote. Arraigo cases vary a lot: a sociolaboral file with a clean contract is not the same work as a social file that needs an integration report and years of scattered evidence. We look at your situation first and confirm a fixed fee in writing before we start. State fees are paid separately to the administration.

Official fees in 2026: 38.28 € for the arraigo authorisation (form 790, code 052) and 16.08 € for the first TIE card (form 790, code 012).

A typical case

As an illustration: a Honduran woman has lived in Benimaclet for just over two years, volunteers at a parish food bank, and a cleaning company in Paterna now offers her a 25-hour contract. Sociolaboral arraigo fits. We check the contract pays at least the agreement rate for those hours, collect her padrón history and medical records to cover the two years, and ask for her criminal record from home. Once admitted, she may start the job while the office decides, and after approval we check her Social Security registration is in place within the month and book her TIE fingerprints.

Frequently asked questions

Source: Royal Decree 1155/2024, articles 124 to 132 and additional provisions 7 and 8 (BOE), Organic Law 4/2000, article 31.3 and additional provision 1 (BOE). Last checked against the BOE on 14 November 2026. Laws and fees change, so we confirm the current ones for your case before you pay.