The map of Spanish residence routes and where to start

Key rules

• Who this covers: These families apply to non-EU nationals; EU, EEA and Swiss citizens use a separate free-movement regime.
• Property purchase: Buying property gives no right to residence, because the property investment route ended for new applications on 3 April 2025.
• Starting point: Your nationality, whether you will work, and your family and study plans narrow the choice to a short list.
• Current rules: The families come from the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025.

Spain groups residence permits into a small set of families. You do not need to read about every permit. A few questions about yourself point you to two or three families, and you can read about those.

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, you do not use these families. If you are a UK citizen with Withdrawal Agreement rights, you keep those rights under your own rules and do not use these routes; a UK citizen without them is a non-EU national (see Moving to Spain as a British citizen after Brexit).

The main families

The 2025 immigration rules group residence permits into these families:

• Temporary residence without work. For people who live in Spain without working there. This includes the non-lucrative route.
• Temporary residence and work. For employees, the self-employed, seasonal workers and other special work cases. It also covers highly qualified professionals, intra-company transfers and teleworkers.
• Study and related stays. For study, training, research, internships and volunteering.
• Arraigo. Residence for exceptional circumstances, based on ties to Spain. Every type (social, socio-labour, socio-formative, family and second-chance) needs 2 years of continuous stay in Spain first, plus that type's own condition.
• Family reunification and family residence. For relatives of people who already live in Spain legally.
• Long-term residence and EU long-term residence. For people who have already lived legally in Spain for years.
• Specific situations. Humanitarian cases, collaboration with the authorities, and victims of violence or trafficking.

The first questions to ask

Work through these in order. Each one removes families from your list.

1. What is your nationality? It decides whether you need a visa at all, and whether you are outside these families entirely (EU, EEA and Swiss citizens).
2. Will you work in Spain? If yes, look at temporary residence and work: employee, self-employed, highly qualified, intra-company transfer or teleworker. If no, look at residence without work.
3. Are you coming to study, train or research? Go to the study family.
4. Do you have close family who live legally in Spain? Look at family reunification and family residence.
5. Are you already in Spain, with ties to it? Look at arraigo.
6. Have you lived legally in Spain for years? Look at long-term residence.
7. Is your situation urgent or unusual? Humanitarian and protection routes sit in the specific-situations family.

Several routes also test your income and savings, so gather those figures first.

Buying property does not give you residence

The golden visa for property ended for new applications on 3 April 2025, and no route gives residence just for owning property. See Residence shortcuts that do not exist.

If your application is refused

You can file a recurso de reposición within one month of the decision, or go to the contentious-administrative court within two months. If the administration never answers, the reconsideration has no deadline and the court deadline is six months.

If you are a Spanish citizen or dual national

Spanish citizens need no residence permit and do not use these families. You live in Spain by right and hold a DNI — see Arriving in Spain as an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen.

Spanish residence routes side by side

Which residence route fits how you plan to live in Spain?

Which route fits: the short version

No route does everything. Non-lucrative residence is the only one that bars you from working. Non-lucrative, employee and study first applications are filed at a consulate abroad; arraigo, family-of-EU-citizen cards and humanitarian cases are filed inside Spain; and, while you are legally in Spain, the digital nomad, highly qualified, Blue Card, entrepreneur and intra-company transfer routes can be filed online with the UGE unit. Time on every main work or residence route counts towards long-term residence after 5 continuous years, except that student years count at 50%.

Each route uses the figure in force for the year you apply.

When to choose

• Non-lucrative: you will live in Spain on savings or income and do not need to work there.
• Digital nomad: you work remotely for companies outside Spain, with at most 20% of your income from Spanish clients.
• Work or highly qualified: you have a job offer or a sponsoring employer in Spain, or a highly qualified profile.
• EU Blue Card: you have a qualified job in Spain and want a permit tied to that role.
• Self-employed or entrepreneur: you will start a business or work as a freelancer in Spain.
• Student: you are coming to study, train or research.
• Arraigo: you have already lived in Spain for 2 years and have ties to it.
• Family of an EU citizen: you are the family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen living in Spain.

Points the table cannot show

• Filing place. Renewals, changes from study to work, and humanitarian or exceptional cases are filed inside Spain; entrepreneur applications are filed abroad. See which routes are filed abroad and which inside Spain.
• Family reunification. This is a separate path. After one year of residence, the sponsor asks for it in Spain. The family then collects the visa at a consulate. A spouse and a registered partner are covered. An unregistered partner is covered with proof of a stable relationship (1 year living together, or a child in common). Children under 18 are covered. Housing and means tests apply.
• Family of an EU citizen. A non-EU family member applies under the family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen route, not under these families.
  • The cases are listed on Do you need a visa for Spain?, under the EU, EEA or Swiss citizen section.
• Long-term residence. Once you reach it, it is permanent (renewed every 5 years) and allows full work.
• Combining routes. Time on each route counts towards long-term residence as set out in What if you qualify for more than one route?. Changing route later is a new application.

Facts to gather about yourself before choosing a route

• Note what kind of income you have: pension, salary from a foreign employer, freelance clients or none.
• Work out your yearly income in euros, because several routes test it against the IPREM, the public income indicator that the Government revises every year.
• Add up your savings in euros and check that you can show them in bank statements.
• List each person who would move with you and their age; the route depends on how they are related to you.
• Check your degree or professional qualifications and how many years of experience you have, because skilled-worker routes ask for them.
• List the dates that matter: when you want to move, how long you have lived legally in Spain and when any current permit ends.
• Note whether you are in Spain now or abroad, because some routes are filed only from a Spanish consulate.

Official sources for Spanish immigration rules

• Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration: Read the current rules for each residence route on its immigration (Extranjería) pages.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and your consulate's website: Find visa requirements and the document checklist your own consulate asks for, as consulates differ.
• Official State Gazette: Check the text of laws and the yearly IPREM and minimum wage amounts.
• Government administration electronic office: Download current forms and check fees.
• National Police appointment portal: Book the fingerprint appointment for your foreign-ID card (TIE).
• Your provincial immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería): Ask about local document requirements, appointment availability and processing times, which differ by province.