Spain’s network of Oficinas de Extranjería is heading into its busiest year in more than a decade, and the cracks are already showing. Civil-service unions told Euro Weekly News on 23 February that many regional immigration offices are operating with staffing levels "well below" ministry guidelines. Temporary hires brought in during the 2021 and 2023 immigration reforms were not renewed, leaving massive gaps just as Spain prepares to launch an extraordinary regularisation expected to attract more than 500,000 applications from undocumented migrants in April.
For current foreign residents—including the estimated 280,000 British citizens who still rely on TIE renewals after Brexit—the bottleneck is not theoretical. Appointment slots in Madrid, Málaga and Valencia are being released only two or three weeks in advance, and they disappear within minutes. Without a valid TIE card many expats cannot open bank accounts, register for public healthcare, or even board domestic flights if they use their TIE as ID. “We are already seeing people whose cards expire in March unable to get fingerprint appointments until June,” said one relocation consultant in Barcelona.
Amid this uncertainty, specialised visa agencies such as VisaHQ can take much of the administrative weight off both individuals and HR teams. Their Spain-dedicated platform (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers step-by-step guidance, document checking and appointment-booking assistance, streamlining the process and flagging alternative pathways when local offices are overbooked.
![Staff Shortages Threaten to Paralyse Spain’s Immigration Offices Ahead of Mass Regularisation]()
Spanish employers are also worried. Multinational firms with intra-company transferees on highly qualified professional permits fear onboarding delays that could push project start-dates into Q3. According to human-resources association AEDRH, a one-month delay in obtaining an initial residence card typically costs a company €4,500 in lost productivity and temporary housing.
The Interior and Inclusion ministries say contingency plans include extended office hours, redeploying surplus staff from low-volume regions and accelerating the rollout of the new online appointment-scheduling portal. Yet unions insist that without emergency funding to recruit at least 1,000 extra caseworkers nationally, “collapse” is inevitable.
Practical tip: companies relocating staff to Spain in 2026 should front-load documentation, secure appointments as soon as portals open (often at midnight), and budget for possible bridging solutions such as cross-border business-visitor trips while cards are pending.
For current foreign residents—including the estimated 280,000 British citizens who still rely on TIE renewals after Brexit—the bottleneck is not theoretical. Appointment slots in Madrid, Málaga and Valencia are being released only two or three weeks in advance, and they disappear within minutes. Without a valid TIE card many expats cannot open bank accounts, register for public healthcare, or even board domestic flights if they use their TIE as ID. “We are already seeing people whose cards expire in March unable to get fingerprint appointments until June,” said one relocation consultant in Barcelona.
Amid this uncertainty, specialised visa agencies such as VisaHQ can take much of the administrative weight off both individuals and HR teams. Their Spain-dedicated platform (https://www.visahq.com/spain/) offers step-by-step guidance, document checking and appointment-booking assistance, streamlining the process and flagging alternative pathways when local offices are overbooked.
Spanish employers are also worried. Multinational firms with intra-company transferees on highly qualified professional permits fear onboarding delays that could push project start-dates into Q3. According to human-resources association AEDRH, a one-month delay in obtaining an initial residence card typically costs a company €4,500 in lost productivity and temporary housing.
The Interior and Inclusion ministries say contingency plans include extended office hours, redeploying surplus staff from low-volume regions and accelerating the rollout of the new online appointment-scheduling portal. Yet unions insist that without emergency funding to recruit at least 1,000 extra caseworkers nationally, “collapse” is inevitable.
Practical tip: companies relocating staff to Spain in 2026 should front-load documentation, secure appointments as soon as portals open (often at midnight), and budget for possible bridging solutions such as cross-border business-visitor trips while cards are pending.
