Key Immigration Developments In Spain: A Review Of The Changes Implemented Over The Past Year

Spain has had an eventful 2025 when it comes to immigration policy. The shift has mostly been towards integration and labor market needs. Late 2024 and early 2025 saw the approval and implementation overhaul that the country hasn’t seen in the best part of a decade. It’s been driven by demographic challenges, which isn’t uncommon around the world right now, and a need to streamline the infamous Spanish bureaucracy. Given the changes and outdated advice of many online resources, an immigration lawyer in Spain has become a must for some applicants.

Comprehensive reform

The real centerpiece of these changes is in the new Immigration Regulation (Reglamento de Extranjería). It was approved by the Council of Ministers in November 2024 and fully effective as of mid-2025 (Royal Decree 1155/2024).

This reform simplifies what Spain immigration lawyers describe as a complex administrative web that has governed residency and work permits. The key goal has been to reduce the time foreigners spend in a legal limbo. Initial residency and work permits are now valid for one year and renewable for four years instead of the previous two-year renewal cycle, providing more stability, less administrative burden, and fewer permit gaps.

The arraigo system

They have also restructured the “arraigo” (roots) system – this allows undocumented migrants to receive residency based on their ties to Spain. The general residency requirement for accessing these pathways has been cut from three years to two years. The new regulation has five types of arraigo:

• Social
• Socio-labor
• Socio-educational
• Second chance
• Family

The Second Chance Arraigo (Arraigo de Segunda Oportunidad) is a novel addition that has been designed for those who previously held a residence permit but fell into irregularity (an inability to renew it). The Socio-educational Arraigo lets migrants who are in vocational training work up to 30 hours a week while studying.

The abolition of the golden visa

To take some oxygen out of housing speculation, Spain ended its Golden Visa program for real estate investment in 2024. It was brought into effect in 2013 and allowed non-EU nationals to obtain residency by investing €500,000 or more in Spanish real estate. It was big business for the likes of Sterna, but it has been controversial and blamed for ballooning property prices, so it’s been scrapped.

Family reunification and student visas

Family reunification rules have been broadened to help with social stability, and this led to the rise in the age limit for children eligible for reunification with parents from 21 to 26 years. This acknowledges the reality that young adults are increasingly dependent on family support for longer. The change also now recognizes unmarried stable partners (parejas de hecho) among other relatives who were previously excluded.

For international students, the welcome reform helps remove the tedious requirement of renewals each year. Student permits are now valid for the duration of the whole academic program, making it more bespoke, and those in higher education can work up to 30 hours per week. The pathway to convert a student visa into a work permit after graduation has been expedited, eliminating previous hurdles that forced many graduates to leave the country.

Labor market integration

These changes show that Spain is intent on viewing migration as a solution to its aging population and labor shortages rather than a burden that must be managed. By aiming to regularize around 300,000 people each year over the next three years, it’s clear that the government is bringing a big part of the shadow economy into the formal system.