Procedure · Residencia temporal por razones humanitarias, colaboración con autoridades, seguridad nacional o interés público
Residence on humanitarian grounds in Spain (circunstancias excepcionales)
Residence for serious illness, victims of certain crimes, danger in returning home, and collaboration with the authorities — including workers who report an employer they worked for without papers. No visa, and it carries the right to work anywhere in Spain.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- No visa is required; the processing fee for the authorisation applies
- Official name
- Residencia temporal por razones humanitarias, colaboración con autoridades, seguridad nacional o interés público
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 12
- Documents required
- 6
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado). Checked .
Who needs one
People in Spain whose situation falls within one of the humanitarian or collaboration grounds in the Immigration Regulation, other than arraigo.
Step by step
Serious illness that arose in Spain
A permit may be granted to someone who proves they are suffering a serious illness that arose in Spain, requiring specialised medical care that is not available in their country of origin, where interrupting or not receiving that care would put their health or life at serious risk. It is proved with a clinical report from the relevant health authority. Where the patient is a child, the permit can be extended to the parent or guardian who is in Spain with them when the illness appears and takes responsibility for them.
Victims of specific crimes
Available to victims of the offences against workers' rights in articles 311 to 318 of the Criminal Code, of the hate-crime offences in articles 510, 511.1 and 512, of any offence aggravated by racist, antisemitic or other discriminatory motives under article 22.4, and of violent conduct within the family. There is one condition that decides most of these files: a final judicial decision ending the proceedings must have established your status as a victim of those offences.
Where going home to apply for the visa would be dangerous
A permit may be granted to someone who proves that travelling to the country they come from, in order to apply for the visa they would otherwise need, would endanger their safety or their family's — provided they meet the other requirements for a residence, or residence and work, permit. This is the ground for people who qualify on the merits but for whom the ordinary route through a consulate is not survivable.
People the Interior Ministry has authorised to stay
Covers those authorised to remain under the asylum and subsidiary protection law, people displaced under the temporary protection rules for a mass influx of displaced persons, and the cases set out in the regulations developing that law. Here the humanitarian residence permit follows a decision already taken elsewhere.
Collaboration with the police, prosecutors, courts, or the public interest
Available to people who collaborate with administrative, police, prosecution or judicial authorities on matters outside the fight against organised networks, or where national security or public interest reasons justify authorising their residence. Those authorities can themselves ask the competent body to grant it. Decisions rest with the Secretary of State for Security where the ground is police, prosecution or judicial collaboration or national security, and with the Directorate-General for Migration Management for collaboration with other authorities and public-interest cases.
Collaboration with the labour authority: the route for undocumented workers
The Government Delegate or Sub-delegate may grant a permit to someone who proves — by any means of evidence — that they are or were working irregularly for at least six months within the two years before the collaboration began, and who meets the arraigo requirements apart from the residence and the length-of-stay conditions. It may be applied for by the person concerned or opened by the labour authority itself, and the file includes the judicial decision or, where administrative, the infringement report issued by the Labour Inspectorate. It is the clearest answer to the question of what happens to a worker who reports the employer who hired them without papers.
Apply in person, with no visa
These permits require no visa. The application is made in person before the body competent to process it — except for minors, and for people with disabilities who need support to exercise their legal capacity, where the legal representative or the person providing that support may file it. Permits for foreign minors under title IX may be applied for at the same time, and where they are, the decisions must be issued together.
Where: Oficina de Extranjería of the province where you are
The criminal record certificate, and when you do not need it
For arraigo, for the serious-illness ground and for labour-authority collaboration, an applicant over the age of criminal responsibility must produce a criminal record certificate from each country they lived in during the five years before entering Spain, showing no convictions for conduct that is an offence under Spanish law. You do not need the foreign certificate if you have been continuously in Spain for the last five years, or if you proved it in an earlier application within the last five years and have not left the country since. Spanish records and the police report are obtained by the office itself, within seven days, and a police record is not in itself an automatic ground for refusal.
Fifteen days to complete the file
If the documentation is incomplete, the office will ask you to put it right within a period set in the notification, which cannot exceed fifteen days. Missing that deadline is treated as withdrawing the application and the file is closed, so the fifteen days matter more than they look.
The permit lets you work — anywhere, in anything
Granting any permit in this chapter carries with it authorisation to work, employed or self-employed, with no limit of geographical area or occupation, for as long as the permit lasts. There are two exceptions: people below the minimum working age, and socio-educational arraigo, which allows employed work up to thirty hours a week overall, paid at least the minimum wage or the applicable collective-agreement wage in proportion to the hours worked.
One year, renewable — and five for family arraigo
Because they are exceptional, these permits and their extensions run one year, with family arraigo the exception at five years. Where the ground is serious illness, the permit runs a year and can be extended for successive one-year periods for as long as is needed to complete the treatment. Permits granted by the Secretary of State for Security can be extended year by year while the authorities find the reasons behind them persist; only if they conclude those reasons have ceased do you move to an ordinary residence or work permit under article 191.
Renew in the two months before it expires
Filing in that window extends the old permit until the decision. Filing within the three months after expiry also extends it, though it opens a penalty procedure. Extensions of second-chance, socio-labour and social arraigo require proof that you are actively seeking work and registered with the public employment service — unless justified circumstances such as illness, disability or reaching retirement age prevent you from working. That last exception was added by Royal Decree 316/2026, in force since 16 April 2026.
Documents you need
Complete copy of a valid passport, cédula de inscripción or travel document
Recognised as valid in Spain.
Proof that you are in one of the grounds
The clinical report, the final judgment establishing you as a victim, the authority's report, or the Labour Inspectorate's infringement report, depending on which ground applies.
Employment contract, where one is required
Signed by worker and employer.
Criminal record certificate from countries of residence
Covering the five years before entering Spain, for arraigo, serious illness and labour-authority collaboration. Not needed after five continuous years in Spain, or where already proved in an application within the last five years with no absence since.
For serious illness: the clinical report
From the relevant health authority, evidencing the specialised care needed and the risk of interrupting it.
For labour collaboration: proof of the six months of work
By any means of evidence, covering at least six months of irregular work within the two years before the collaboration began.
Common questions
Can I get residence in Spain because of a serious illness?
If the illness arose in Spain, is serious, needs specialised care that is not available in your country of origin, and interrupting or not receiving that care would seriously endanger your health or life. A clinical report from the health authority is what proves it. For a sick child, the permit can extend to the parent or guardian in Spain who takes responsibility for them.
I worked without papers and reported my employer. Can I get a permit?
There is a route for exactly that. The Government Delegate or Sub-delegate can grant a collaboration permit where you prove by any means that you worked irregularly for at least six months in the two years before the collaboration began, and you meet the arraigo requirements apart from the residence conditions. The labour authority can open the application itself.
Can I work with a humanitarian residence permit?
Yes. These permits carry authorisation to work, employed or self-employed, with no limit of area or occupation, for as long as the permit lasts. The exceptions are people under the minimum working age and socio-educational arraigo, which is capped at thirty hours a week.
Do I need a visa?
No. Permits for exceptional circumstances require no visa, and the application is made in person in Spain. For minors, and for people who need support to exercise their legal capacity, a legal representative or supporter may file it.
How long does it last?
One year, and extensions run one year too. Family arraigo is the exception at five years. Where the ground is serious illness, the permit is extended for successive one-year periods for as long as the treatment requires.
Do I need a criminal record certificate from abroad?
For arraigo, serious illness and labour-authority collaboration, yes — from every country you lived in during the five years before entering Spain. Not if you have been continuously in Spain for the last five years, or if you already proved it in an application within those five years and have not left since.
I am a victim of a crime. Is that enough?
The offence has to be one of those listed — offences against workers' rights, hate crimes, offences aggravated by discriminatory motives, or violent conduct within the family — and there must be a final judicial decision ending the proceedings that establishes your status as a victim. Gender-based violence has its own separate procedure rather than going through this one.
What if my documents are incomplete?
The office sets a period to put it right, which cannot exceed fifteen days. If you miss it you are treated as having withdrawn the application and the file is closed.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. We do not cite other guides, because a copy gives us no way to notice when the original changes.
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado)Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Cita previa de extranjeríaMinisterio de Política Territorial y Función Pública
This is information, not advice
Your own case depends on your nationality, your current status and your history with the administration — none of which a web page can see. Confirm anything that matters with the responsible authority or a qualified professional before you act on it.