Procedure · Desplazamiento temporal de menores extranjeros en el marco de programas de carácter humanitario
Temporary stays for foreign minors under humanitarian programmes in Spain
The rules behind host-family holidays, medical treatment stays and school placements for foreign children — including the safeguarding checks, the deadlines, and the requirement that host families confirm in writing the stay is not for adoption.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- The promoter must commit in writing that the child's return costs the public purse nothing, unless a competent body has expressly assumed that cost beforehand
- Official name
- Desplazamiento temporal de menores extranjeros en el marco de programas de carácter humanitario
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 13
- Documents required
- 8
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
Public administrations, non-profit associations and foundations promoting these programmes, and the families who host the children.
Step by step
What makes a programme humanitarian
A programme is generally treated as humanitarian where at least one of these applies: the country of origin is in armed conflict or in social difficulty because of one; it is affected by natural or human-caused disasters; the child is in a refugee camp; or the specialised medical treatment or surgery cannot be carried out in the country of origin.
Only two kinds of body can promote one
The entity or person promoting and financing the programme is a party to the procedure, and can only be a public administration or a non-profit association or foundation entered in a public register. An informal arrangement between families is not one of these programmes and cannot use this route.
The favourable report is what makes the trip possible
Displacement requires a prior favourable report from the Government Delegate or Sub-delegate for the territory where the children will mainly stay. It requires, among other things, express prior authorisation from whoever holds parental authority, guardianship or custody, together with an undertaking from the Spanish authorities to see to the child's proper care, applying supervision and control mechanisms where any situation of lack of protection arises.
Safeguarding: certificates for everyone over fourteen in the household
The file needs a favourable report from the regional child protection body on the programme, confirming it is humanitarian. Accompanying it, and this is the requirement to plan for early: criminal record certificates and sexual offence certificates, issued by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, for every person over fourteen who is going to live with the child.
Host families must state in writing that it is not for adoption
In every case where children are to stay with families or individuals, those families must state in writing that they understand the child's displacement is not for the purpose of adoption, and undertake to favour the child's return to their country of origin. There is no ambiguity in the text and no exception to it.
A failed return bars the next edition
The association, foundation, individual or family must not have breached, in any previous edition of the programme, their undertaking to favour the child's return. The only exception is a stay extended because of a need for specialised medical care in Spain, duly notified to the competent Government Delegation and authorised by it.
Request the report three to four months ahead — and mind the silence
The report on the temporary displacement must be requested at least three months and at most four months before the scheduled date. The maximum period for a decision is one month, and if it passes with no express notification, the request is refused by silence. Leaving it to eight weeks out is not a tight timetable, it is outside the window.
Where: Government Delegation or Sub-delegation for the territory where the children will mainly stay
Medical treatment stays: ninety days, extendable
Promoters can request displacement for periods of no more than ninety calendar days for medical treatment. The child may be accompanied, within the same programme, by a parent or legal guardian, who exceptionally obtains the same authorisations as the child and is conditional on them. The stay can be extended for the time needed to finish the treatment, where the promoter applies before the stay ends and attaches a report from the health authority justifying that specialised care must continue and cannot continue in the child's place of origin, plus the express agreement of whoever holds parental authority or guardianship.
When treatment outlasts the maximum stay
Where staying on beyond the maximum stay is essential to continue treatment, the promoter can apply for an exceptional temporary residence permit for foreign minors for medical treatment. It lasts strictly as long as the health authority's report indicates, capped at one year and renewable. Incomplete files get ten days to be corrected; the decision is due within three months, and silence means refused. Each renewal requires an updated health authority report expressly setting out why specialised care in Spain must continue, and is applied for in the two months before expiry.
Holiday stays: from eight years old, ninety days, no extension
Promoters can request displacement for holiday purposes for children from eight years old, for non-extendable periods of ninety calendar days. Children over six are exceptionally allowed where they travel with siblings over eight. For every group of fifteen children, or fraction of one, a monitor from the same place of origin may come within the same programme, also for a non-extendable ninety days.
Reporting duties at both ends of a holiday programme
Once in Spain, the children are handed over to their host families and the promoter must notify the Immigration Office where the applications were processed, along with any incident. At the end of the programme the promoter has fifteen days to notify the provincial immigration brigade of the National Police for the province where it is based of the terms of each child's return or exceptional stay and the reasons for it, and the same fifteen days to report the monitors' return and anyone who did not leave on time. Failing to do this is taken into account when assessing participation in later programmes.
School placements: from twelve, and they end with the academic year
A stay for schooling under a humanitarian programme is available from twelve years old and has the legal nature of a study stay. Admission to an officially recognised teaching centre in Spain must be evidenced. The stay ends when the academic year does, at which point the child must return home unless exceptional reasons prevent it. Continuing for more than one academic year means being included in a new programme — the stay is not simply extended.
Who checks what at the consulate
For the visas, the consular office in the child's country of origin must verify that the favourable prior report from the Government Delegate or Sub-delegate exists, that whoever holds parental authority or guardianship has expressly authorised the trip, and that the individual or collective passports, safe conducts or other travel documents are in order.
Documents you need
Express prior authorisation from the holders of parental authority
Or of guardianship or custody, for the child's displacement to Spain.
Favourable report from the regional child protection body
On the programme, stating that it is humanitarian, requested by the promoter.
Criminal record and sexual offence certificates
From the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, for every person over fourteen who will live with the child.
Written undertaking from the promoter on the return
To facilitate the return to the country of origin, and that it costs the public purse nothing unless a competent body expressly assumed that cost beforehand.
Written statement from the host family
Confirming they know the displacement is not for the purpose of adoption, and undertaking to favour the child's return.
For medical stays: health authority report
Justifying that specialised care must continue and cannot be continued in the child's place of origin. Updated at each renewal.
For school placements: proof of admission
At an officially recognised teaching centre in Spain.
Travel documents
Individual or collective passports, safe conducts or other travel documentation, checked by the consulate.
Common questions
Who can run one of these programmes?
Only a public administration, or a non-profit association or foundation entered in a public register. The promoter finances the programme and is a party to the procedure. Private arrangements between families cannot use this route.
How far in advance do we have to apply?
The report must be requested at least three months and at most four months before the scheduled date. The decision is due within a month, and silence means refused.
What checks are made on the host family?
Criminal record certificates and sexual offence certificates are required for every person over fourteen who will live with the child. The family must also state in writing that they understand the stay is not for adoption and will favour the child's return.
How old must a child be for a holiday programme?
Eight, for non-extendable periods of ninety calendar days. Children over six are exceptionally allowed if they travel with siblings over eight. One monitor from the same place of origin may come for every fifteen children or fraction of that.
Can a medical stay be extended?
Yes, for the time needed to finish the treatment, applied for before the stay ends with a health authority report and the express agreement of the parents or guardian. If more time is needed beyond the maximum stay, the promoter can apply for an exceptional residence permit lasting as long as the health report indicates, capped at one year and renewable.
Can a child stay for a second school year?
Not by extending the stay. A schooling stay ends with the academic year and the child must return home unless exceptional reasons prevent it. Continuing means being included in a new programme.
What happens if a child does not return?
The promoter must report the terms of each child's return or exceptional stay, and the reasons, to the provincial immigration brigade within fifteen days of the programme ending. An organisation or family that breached the return undertaking in a previous edition cannot take part in the next one, unless the stay was extended for specialised medical care that was notified and authorised.
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.