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Procedure · Autorización de regreso

Return authorisation in Spain (autorización de regreso)

The permit that lets you travel while your residence card is being renewed or replaced. It lasts up to 90 days and allows unlimited trips — but only if you re-enter Spain through a Spanish border post.

Checked at source ·

Official fee
€10.72
Official name
Autorización de regreso
Forms
790-012
Steps
6
Documents required
5

Source: Ministerio del Interior — Tasas — Extranjería. Checked .

Every immigration fee, with the official Spanish wording

Who needs one

People whose residence or stay authorisation is in the middle of renewal, and people whose foreigner identity card has been stolen, lost, destroyed or damaged and who have applied for a duplicate. In both cases, someone who needs to leave Spain before the new document arrives.

Step by step

  1. Check you are in one of the two situations

    Article 5 of the Immigration Regulation allows this in two cases only. Either your residence or stay authorisation is in its renewal or extension period, and you can show you started that renewal within the legal deadline; or you held a valid foreigner identity card that was stolen, lost, destroyed or damaged, and you have applied for a duplicate. Wanting to travel while a first application is pending is not one of them.

  2. Prove you applied for the renewal on time

    For the renewal case the condition is not simply that a renewal is under way — it is that you began it within the deadline the law sets. Bring the proof of submission with its date. This is the point where these applications are refused.

  3. Apply at the police station or immigration office

    The application goes to the National Police or the immigration office for your province, in most places by appointment booked through the electronic office of the public administration. Many stations list return authorisations as appointment-only even where other procedures are not.

    Where: Comisaría de Policía or Oficina de Extranjeros of your province

  4. Understand how the ninety days are counted

    The authorisation lasts at most ninety days, but the start point moves. If you applied before your card expired, the ninety days run from that expiry date. If you applied after it had already expired, they run from the date the authorisation is granted. Either way ninety days is the ceiling, not a default.

  5. Plan your return through a Spanish border post

    This is the condition that catches people out. The authorisation is valid for entry through Spanish border crossings — not for entering the Schengen area somewhere else and travelling on. A cheap flight into another country with an onward train is precisely the itinerary it does not cover, and there is no way to fix that at the border.

  6. Travel as often as you need within the period

    Within its validity the authorisation permits unlimited entries and exits, so a single one covers several trips. What it does not do is extend: once the ninety days are up it is spent, whether or not your new card has arrived.

Documents you need

  • Application form

    The official return authorisation form, completed and signed.

  • Passport or travel document

    In force, original and copy.

  • Proof that renewal was applied for within the deadline

    For the renewal case: the submission receipt showing the date you lodged it.

  • Proof of the duplicate application

    For the lost or stolen card case: evidence that you have applied for a duplicate, and where relevant the police report of the theft or loss.

  • Proof of payment of fee 790/012

    790-012

    €10.72 for a return authorisation.

Common questions

How long does a return authorisation last?

Up to ninety days. If you applied before your card expired, the period runs from the expiry date; if you applied after it expired, it runs from the date the authorisation was granted.

Can I use it to fly back into another EU country?

No, and this is the mistake that strands people. It is valid for entry through Spanish border crossings only. Entering the Schengen area elsewhere and travelling on to Spain is not covered by it.

Can I make more than one trip?

Yes. Within its period of validity it allows unlimited entries and exits, so one authorisation covers several journeys.

My card was stolen. Can I get one?

Yes, if you held a valid foreigner identity card and it was stolen, lost, destroyed or damaged, and you have applied for a duplicate. The duplicate application is the condition — the theft alone is not enough.

I am waiting on my first residence card. Can I get one?

No. The rule covers authorisations in renewal or extension and cards being replaced. A first application that has not yet been decided does not qualify.

How much does it cost?

€10.72, paid on tax form 790 with code 012, according to the Ministry of the Interior's published fee table.

Which office, in your province

Not every police station handles every procedure, and the assignment differs from province to province — in Alicante the residence card is issued at one address and the NIE at another. Pick your province to see the offices that actually do this one, with addresses and phone numbers.

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.

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.