What changes for people without papers who want to work?
Royal Decree 316/2026 of 14 April 2026 changes Spain's foreigners' regulations at a key point. According to the Consejo General de Gestores Administrativos (the national body of administrative agents), a provisional residence and work permit applies under arraigo sociolaboral as soon as the authority admits the application for processing.
Applicants used to wait for the final decision. The admission notice must now state that the person may work provisionally as an employee.
The employer can then register the worker at once with the Seguridad Social (Social Security). The final permit, however, only takes effect if that registration happens within one month of the approval notice.
Does the new rule apply to holidaymakers and residents in the south?
Nothing changes for holidaymakers and EU citizens, because the rule covers people who still have to regularise their stay in Spain. Germans who stay longer than three months must still register, but that is general background and not part of this report.
Businesses looking for staff are affected indirectly. Yeray Castellano, managing director of the Colegio Oficial de Graduados Sociales de Gran Canaria y Fuerteventura (the professional body for labour and social-security advisers), named farming, hospitality and skilled posts as areas of need.
Sandra Santana Trujillo, vice-president of the Colegio, also reminded firms of their duties. Anyone who employs foreigners without a permit risks penalties, and companies must prove they meet economic and administrative requirements.
What did the experts say in Puerto del Rosario?
The III Jornada de Extranjería (a conference on immigration law) took place in Puerto del Rosario on 29 October 2026. The speakers were Carlos Mora Almudí, a former director general for migration, Francisco Javier Durán Ruiz, head of the Oficina de Extranjería (immigration office) in Almería, and César Tolosa Tribiño, a judge at the Constitutional Court.
Santana described a dilemma: people who need a job to regularise their stay often cannot yet work. “The paradox is that they go into the shadow economy,” she said, according to Fuerteventura Digital.
She named the pre-contract as a way out, in which a firm promises to hire someone once the permit arrives. Castellano said there is still “an army of people in uncertainty”, meaning applicants who filed on time and are waiting for notice that they may start work.
How long do the procedures take?
On 2 July 2026 the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration reported 1,174,978 applications for extraordinary regularisation nationwide, of which 609,737 had been processed. The window ran from 16 April to 30 June 2026, and it covered people who were in Spain without papers before 1 January 2026 and had lived in the country continuously for at least five months.
In the Canary Islands there were 37,525 applications, according to Diario de Avisos: 21,807 in the province of Las Palmas and 15,718 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. No figure for Fuerteventura alone is available.
Immigration offices are run by the state, and the Canarian government does not issue permits. According to a report by the broadcaster RTVC on 8 May 2025, 225 people work in these offices across the islands, about 125 in Las Palmas and 100 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The unions UGT and CCOO called for more staff at the time. RTVC reported that the offices handled more than 20,000 cases in 2024 without extra staff.
What is still unclear?
No official body has yet published current waiting times for the immigration office serving Fuerteventura. Our research also found nothing reliable on fees or on who pays them.
The report does not say whether the Colegio made specific demands in Puerto del Rosario, such as more staff or online appointments. Nobody named a new start date for faster procedures.
Santana also pointed to problems with renewals, for example over work history, contribution periods, documents or firms' finances. The advice site Ineaf writes that the regulations are applied unevenly from region to region.
Anyone affected should ask the immigration office or a professional association about the state of their own case. New appointments have not yet been confirmed.