Arraigo social

The two paths of arraigo social

Article 127.c) of the Regulation sets out an alternative worth understanding before moving a single paper.

Path one: family ties. If there are ties with other foreign nationals holding a residence permit, and sufficient financial means are shown, the route is covered. The ties that count are specific: spouse or registered partner, and first-degree relatives in the direct line, that is, parents and children. Siblings, uncles and cousins do not count.

Path two: integration effort. If there is no such tie, integration effort is assessed, proved with a favourable report issued by the autonomous community where you live, or by the town hall where the community has so provided.

It is an enormous practical difference. The integration report is the bottleneck of the whole procedure: it depends on a different administration, with its own deadlines and criteria. Being able to avoid it by proving a family tie shortens the file by weeks.

The social integration report in Valencia

Where it is needed, the report is requested at the town hall of your habitual address. In the Valencian Community the request form is the Generalitat's and the procedure is published in its electronic office.

The report covers, among other factors, the time at the habitual address, the financial means available and integration efforts through social, employment and cultural programmes. Spanish courses, vocational training, volunteering and participation in associations count, and should be documented with certificates, not screenshots.

The issuing period is one month from the request, and the regional or local administration must send the report electronically to the competent immigration office. If the report is not issued in time, and that is duly proved, the requirement may be shown by any means of evidence admitted in law: request receipt, course certificates, social services reports, letters from associations.

For the padrón, the starting point of all this, there is a separate guide: padrón registration in Valencia.

If you still do not know which type fits, answer six questions in the arraigo guidance test.

How the procedure works

A permit for exceptional circumstances requires no visa and is applied for in person before the competent body, except for minors or people who need support to exercise their legal capacity, where their legal representative may file it.

With the application you provide a full copy of your valid passport, registration card or travel document valid in Spain; the signed employment contract where required; and the documents proving the specific situation claimed. For arraigo you also provide the criminal record certificate from the country or countries where you lived during the five years before entering Spain. The immigration office requests the Central Criminal Records report and the police report ex officio.

There are two cases where third-country records need not be proved: having stayed continuously in Spain for the five years immediately before the application, or having proved it in a previous application within those five years without having left since.

If the documents are incomplete, the administration requests correction with a deadline that cannot exceed fifteen days. If it is not corrected, the file is closed as withdrawn. That is by far the most frequent reason for the lost files that reach this gestoría.

Tracking the file needs no phone calls: see how to check the status of an immigration file. Once the permit is granted, there is one month from notification to apply in person for the foreigner identity card.