Your child has Spanish nationality; you are not a national of any country in the European Union or the European Economic Area, nor of Switzerland. This guide is for you: which permit applies to you, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and what deadlines and costs to expect.
Spanish child, non-EU parent: the map before you start
Picture a Canadian father who lives in Spain with his four-year-old Spanish daughter. He may come across guides in English, written before May 2025, that tell him to apply for “arraigo familiar” (a family settlement permit) or that his residence depends on being married to the mother. Neither reflects the rules in force.
Since May 20, 2025, a new Immigration Regulation has applied, Royal Decree 1155/2024, with its own chapter for family members of Spanish citizens: that is where your case belongs. Family reunification and the residence card for family members of a European Union citizen (the one for family members of other EU citizens) are different schemes.
The permit that applies to you lasts five years and allows you to work as an employee or self-employed anywhere in Spain, in any occupation or sector (Art. 95). And the national employment situation, the labor market test that other work permits require, does not apply to you.
The bond that counts is with your child: letter (f), not a family settlement permit
What applies to you today is the permit known in Spanish as residencia temporal de familiar de ciudadano español inicial, the initial temporary residence permit for family members of a Spanish citizen (“initial” because it is the first permit you apply for, not a renewal), which Royal Decree 1155/2024 regulates in Articles 93 to 99 and which, in your case, rests on letter (f) of Article 94.1.
In that article’s closed list, letter (f) includes the father, mother or guardian of a Spanish minor, provided the child is dependent on them and, in addition, lives with them or, failing that, the parent is up to date with their parental obligations (a parent’s legal duties toward their child). Everything refers to your relationship with your child.
Other letters cover the spouse (letter a) and the partner, registered or stable, of the Spanish citizen: routes different from yours.
Before May 20, 2025, your case was processed as a family settlement permit (arraigo familiar), a residence permit based on family ties. If you already held one on that date through your bond with a Spanish citizen, Transitional Provision Three lets you keep your residence, without applying for the new permit, as long as you continue to meet the conditions of the chapter on family members of Spanish citizens.
Parentage established in another country: the clause the Supreme Court struck down in July 2026
Parentage (filiación) is the legal bond between a mother or father and their child. Letter (f) contained this sentence: “This relationship must have been established in accordance with the Spanish legal system.”
The Supreme Court, Spain’s highest ordinary court, declared that clause null and void (without effect) in its judgment of July 8, 2026 (appeal 19/2025), published on September 22 in Spain’s official gazette, the BOE (Boletín Oficial del Estado).
The judgment removes that sentence, but it does not decide any application by itself: the rest of letter (f) remains in force. If the bond with your child was established in another country and under its law, check the consolidated version of Royal Decree 1155/2024, updated on September 22, 2026, and review your case before you apply.
If you already live in Spain: the application at the Immigration Office, without a visa
If you and your child are in Spain, the application is filed at the Immigration Office (the office that processes residence permits), without a visa and without leaving Spain (Art. 97.1.c). The Regulation provides for this route “exceptionally” for letters (a) to (h) of the list, yours included, and requires the conditions of its Article 38, except for two of them (Art. 97.4): confirm with the office which ones apply to you.
Admission for processing is the step at which the office formally agrees to examine your application. Since April 16, 2026, once it is admitted, you have a provisional authorization to reside and work until the decision, unless an earlier application of yours was declared inadmissible or refused on the same facts; if the application is refused, that authorization lapses.
If you still live abroad, the Regulation’s other two routes go through a visa.
Five years to work and raise your child here: deadlines, the TIE fee and documents from abroad
If you are already in Spain, the five years count from the grant; if you arrive with a visa, from your entry. If the permit is granted for a shorter period, there is a renewal: you apply from two months before expiry until three months after.
The deadline for a decision is two months (Art. 97.6): a legal limit, not a forecast of how long your office will take. If it passes without an answer, the result is a deemed refusal (administrative silence): the application is considered refused, and that can be appealed. If the office asks you for a missing document, you will have 15 days at most to provide it.
Once the permit is granted, you have one month from notification (or from entry, if you come with a visa) to apply in person to the National Police for your foreigner identity card (TIE), the card that proves your residence, with form EX-17.
Your application is processed as a priority and has no application fee (Art. 97.8), but the TIE has its own fee (form 790-012), and legalizing or apostilling and translating documents issued outside Spain, as is generally required, is a cost with no official rate. For the exact list of documents, the reference is what the Immigration Office asks you for.
The key idea, for the father in the example and for you: your residence comes from your bond with your child, not from your marital status.
