Meeting in Madrid on 27 November, Italy’s ambassador Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi and the heads of all first-category consular offices in Spain and Andorra reviewed a 25 % surge in Italians registered with AIRE since 2023. The expatriate community is now just shy of 350,000, fuelled by remote-working professionals and students drawn to Spain’s vibrant tech hubs.
Consulates in Madrid, Barcelona and Arona reported average passport-renewal wait times falling to seven days following the rollout of a new e-queue system. Officials also discussed the impact of Italy’s stricter 2025 citizenship law, which is expected to generate more queries about reacquisition and retention of nationality.
![Italian consulates in Spain ramp up capacity as expatriate population nears 350,000]()
To cope, the network will add Saturday appointment slots for urgent travel documents and pilot a mobile-biometrics unit visiting Valencia and Bilbao in Q1 2026. Digital nomads holding Italy’s new remote-worker visa were invited to join focus groups on consular service design.
For companies managing large numbers of Italian assignees in Spain, the upgrades promise faster document renewals and smoother voting and tax-registration procedures—critical ahead of Italy’s 2026 general election when postal ballot volumes will spike.
Consulates in Madrid, Barcelona and Arona reported average passport-renewal wait times falling to seven days following the rollout of a new e-queue system. Officials also discussed the impact of Italy’s stricter 2025 citizenship law, which is expected to generate more queries about reacquisition and retention of nationality.
To cope, the network will add Saturday appointment slots for urgent travel documents and pilot a mobile-biometrics unit visiting Valencia and Bilbao in Q1 2026. Digital nomads holding Italy’s new remote-worker visa were invited to join focus groups on consular service design.
For companies managing large numbers of Italian assignees in Spain, the upgrades promise faster document renewals and smoother voting and tax-registration procedures—critical ahead of Italy’s 2026 general election when postal ballot volumes will spike.
