Where and how to fileArticle 2 of 8 · 2 min read
Can you apply for Spanish residence from inside Spain?
If you are in Spain as a visitor and want to stay, you can file from inside Spain only for the mobility routes and for arraigo; for every other route you go back to the country where you legally live and apply at its Spanish consulate.
Key rules
- Visitor stay: A visa-free short stay lasts up to 90 days and does not by itself give you a basis for residence.
- Consulates: A Spanish consulate cannot take a visa application from someone who is in Spain.
- Permit holders: Extensions, renewals and long-term residence are filed in Spain, but only by people who already hold a permit.
Routes you file from abroad
Every national visa (type D) is filed before you move, at the consulate that covers your country of legal residence, and costs 80 EUR, paid when you file (where each route is filed). The investor route (golden visa) is closed to new applications (the end of the golden visa). A visitor in Spain cannot file one at a Spanish consulate: you travel to the country where you legally live.
What you can file from inside Spain
- The mobility routes (digital nomad, entrepreneur, highly qualified, researcher and intra-company transfer), online with the UGE-CE, if you are lawfully in Spain: with a visa, a residence permit or a valid short stay.
- Arraigo, which needs a continuous stay in Spain: 2 years for the social, labour and training types.
- If you already hold a permit: student extension and change of status, long-term residence and exceptional circumstances, filed at the foreigners' office of your province.
- Family: the non-EU family of an EU citizen files for the EU family residence card in Spain with no prior permit. For family reunification, the sponsor files at the provincial foreigners' office and the family then applies at the consulate (family reunification).
Why a visitor stay is not enough
A stay that began as a short stay gives no basis for most residence applications, because residence is requested from the country where you legally live, with a visa. The exceptions are the routes above.
If you are a Spanish citizen or an EU citizen's family
A Spanish citizen or dual national needs no residence permit of their own (family of EU and Spanish citizens). An EU citizen's non-EU family follows the EU family route, not the general visa-abroad rule.
More in Where and how to file
- Where to file: consulate, immigration office or online
- Which Spanish consulate handles your application?
- Which office in Spain handles your application (oficina de extranjería)?
- Can someone else file your application for you?
- What happens at your consulate filing appointment
- Will the consulate keep your passport while it decides?
- Filing as a family: several applications, not one
Need certainty before you act?
For important relocation decisions, speak with a qualified human specialist.
Always verify important information with the relevant official authority or a qualified adviser before acting. This website uses large language models together with various public data sources, official government documents and other established sources. Due to the amount of data on this website, some information might be wrong. Information may also be incomplete or outdated.