Spain residency for Moroccan nationals, after the 2025 reform.
On 20 May 2025 Spain replaced the immigration regulation that had governed these routes since 2011. The headline change is arithmetic: the residence period behind the most-used route fell from three years to two. The structural change is that there are now five of them, each with its own gate.
How can a Moroccan national obtain Spanish residency?
Moroccans are third-country nationals, so every route requires an authorisation. The ordinary ones are employment, self-employment, family reunification and study. Separately, the arraigo routes grant residence on exceptional grounds to people already present in Spain, and since 20 May 2025 the qualifying period for these is two years rather than three.
Royal Decree 1155/2024 came into force on 20 May 2025 and repealed the 2011 regulation in its entirety. It did not simply adjust numbers: it reorganised the exceptional-circumstances authorisations into a coherent set of five, defined each one's requirements more precisely, and brought the qualifying periods into line with each other.
The five arraigo routes.
These are residence authorisations on exceptional grounds, for people already in Spain. They are not alternatives to each other — each answers a different situation.
Second chance is aimed at a very specific problem.
Losing residence — through a lapsed renewal, a job ending at the wrong moment, a period abroad — used to mean starting the clock again from zero. The second-chance route exists for people who held authorisation and lost it in the two years before applying, and it recognises that the ties built up during the earlier period did not disappear with the card.
The twenty-hour rule.
The sociolaboral route has the most concrete requirement in the set, and it changed in a way that matters for how people actually work.
Several contracts, added together
The requirement is one or more contracts, each paying at least the statutory minimum wage or the applicable collective agreement rate in proportion to hours, whose combined total is a working week of no less than twenty hours. Part-time and multi-employer patterns qualify.
Below-scale pay, however many hours
Each contract must meet the minimum wage or the collective agreement rate for its sector, pro-rated. Hours at an under-scale rate do not aggregate into a qualifying total, and an informal arrangement is not a contract.
Where you are decides which door exists.
This is the division that matters before any other. The arraigo routes presuppose presence in Spain; the ordinary routes are applied for from Morocco. Choosing from the wrong column is the most common wasted effort in the whole process.
| Route | What it needs | Work permitted |
|---|---|---|
| Employment | A Spanish employer willing to sponsor the authorisation | Yes, as an employee |
| Self-employment | A business plan with demonstrated viability, funds, and a sectoral report | Yes, in the stated activity and region |
| Family reunification | A sponsoring relative already legally resident, with housing and means | Depends on the sponsor's status |
| Study | Admission to a recognised institution, means, insurance | Limited, within defined conditions |
| Digital nomad | Remote work for companies outside Spain, above the income threshold | For foreign employers or clients only |
| Non-lucrative | Sufficient passive income and insurance | No economic activity in Spain |
| Investor residence | Abolished | Ended 3 April 2025 |
Buying property no longer leads to residency.
The investor route — the golden visa — was abolished with effect from 3 April 2025. A property purchase at any value confers no right of residence in Spain. Permits granted before that date remain valid for their term. Anyone still being offered Spanish residency in exchange for a purchase is being offered something that was repealed.
The self-employment route, in more detail.
For Moroccan entrepreneurs this is usually the relevant door, and it is the one with the most preparation behind it.
Residence is not the same as tax residence.
The two are decided under different laws by different authorities, and holding one says nothing about the other.
May you be here, and may you work
Decided by the immigration authorities under the regulation. Governs your right to reside, to work, and on what terms.
Which country taxes your worldwide income
Decided by the tax authority on presence of more than 183 days, centre of economic interests, or family presumption. A permit holder can be non-resident for tax, and a person with no permit can be tax resident.
Where both Spain and Morocco claim you as resident, the 1978 convention resolves it in a fixed sequence: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. It only engages if both countries actually claim you — leaving one without establishing residence elsewhere gives you nothing to invoke.
The business side of the business route.
We are not immigration lawyers, and for an arraigo file you want one. Where the route runs through a company or self-employment, we handle what sits underneath it: the plan, the entity, the tax registration and the ongoing compliance the renewal will be measured against.
- Arraigo
- Rootedness. Temporary residence granted on exceptional grounds to a person already in Spain.
- RD 1155/2024
- The immigration regulation in force from 20 May 2025, replacing RD 557/2011.
- Cuenta propia
- Self-employment. Also the name of the residence and work authorisation for it.
- Cuenta ajena
- Employment by another. A different authorisation, sponsored by an employer.
- SMI
- Salario Minimo Interprofesional, the statutory minimum wage. The floor for a qualifying contract.
- Convenio colectivo
- The sector collective agreement, which often sets a wage above the statutory minimum.
- Reagrupacion familiar
- Family reunification, sponsored by a legally resident relative.
- TIE
- The physical foreigner identity card issued once an authorisation is granted.
- NIE
- The identification number. Required for almost everything, and separate from any permit.
What changed for Moroccan nationals in 2025?
How long do I need to have been in Spain for arraigo?
What are the five types of arraigo?
How many hours of work does the sociolaboral route need?
Can I get Spanish residency by buying property?
Can a Moroccan national use the digital nomad route?
Does a residence permit make me a Spanish tax resident?
What happens if I lose my residence status?
Do I need a NIE before any of this?
Morocco and Spain.
Five doors, one of them yours. Find out which.
Book a consultation ↗Alexander Baranov
Seventeen years designing and delivering cross-border corporate structures — incorporation, tax, holding, banking and market entry — for founders and companies expanding into Spain and the EU. Author of professional books on entering the Spanish market.
More about Voixa and the team ↗