The extraordinary regularization approved by Pedro Sánchez's Executive accelerates access to legal residence in Spain and opens the door to voting for thousands of people, although not in the short term. Nor will all migrants advance at the same pace towards that right. The key difference lies in the nationality of origin of the people regularizing their situation. Latin Americans have an advantage over other non-EU foreigners.
The key: legal residence and nationality
The right to vote in Spain depends on having Spanish nationality (for general and regional elections) or being a foreigner with prolonged legal residence (for municipal elections, with conditions)
The regularization of 2026 advances the first step allowing to obtain legal residence sooner, but the subsequent deadlines change depending on the origin of the regularized person.
Latin American migrants: faster access to voting
Citizens of Ibero-American countries have an accelerated path to Spanish nationality. With the renewed legislative framework, 5 months of continued stay in Spain will be enough to opt for legal residency. From there, in 2 or 3 years they could apply for nationality, with a realistic estimate to obtain it around 3 and 5 years. From that moment is when they could have full voting rights, so they will have to wait between 3 and 5 years to participate in general, regional, and municipal elections.
For citizens of non-Ibero-American countries, times are changing and an estimated timeline could be the following: a minimum of 5 months of stay in Spain to be eligible for regularization and to have lived 10 years in Spain before applying for nationality, according to general deadlines, something that means the granting of nationality does not arrive before 11 or 13 years and with it the passport to full voting rights.
Voting without yet having nationality is only contemplated in municipal elections: an alternative way to vote sooner as a foreigner, but limited, it requires meeting requirements such as 5 years of continuous legal residence and the existence of a reciprocity agreement between their country of origin and Spain. In this context, some Latin American countries (such as Colombia, Peru, or Ecuador) do have a reciprocity agreement, while others non-EU countries do not, so their citizens cannot vote even in municipal elections.
Thus, Latin Americans from countries with an agreement could vote in 5 or 6 years from their regularization. Other foreigners will not be able to vote in municipal elections without nationality.
right to vote
Regularization does not equalize deadlines
Although the extraordinary regularization decreed by the Government accelerates access to residency for people in an irregular administrative situation:
- It does not change the legal deadlines for nationality
- Nor international agreements on municipal voting
Access to nationality by residence is regulated in the Spanish Civil Code and sets the following deadlines:
- 2 years for Ibero-Americans
- 10 years as a general rule
The extraordinary regularization shortens the times, but does not eliminate the original differences.