The number of foreign women who have obtained residency in Spain by reporting gender violence has risen by almost 500 per cent in seven years, according to figures from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
Authorisations climbed from 628 in 2017 to 3,758 in 2024, an increase of 498.4 per cent, the data showed. The figures were released following a transparency ruling and covered the period since Pedro Sánchez became Spain’s Prime Minister in 2018.
More than 60 per cent of the women granted residency under the route came from Colombia and Morocco, the two main countries of origin for immigrants in Spain.
Between 2017 and 2024, the Spanish Government issued the temporary permit to 5,403 Colombians (30.7 per cent), 5,270 Moroccans (29.9 per cent), 1,913 Peruvians (10.9 per cent), 1,815 Hondurans (10.3 per cent) and 1,312 Bolivians (7.5 per cent), followed by women from Brazil, Paraguay, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The number of Colombian women receiving residency on these grounds rose from 50 in 2017 to 1,620 in 2024 — a jump of 3,140 per cent. Moroccan recipients climbed from 166 to 996 over the same period, a rise of 500 per cent, while figures for Peruvian women grew by 163 per cent.
In total, some 42,000 authorisations have been granted since 2005, with the bulk concentrated in recent years. The year 2024 marked a record with 3,235 grants, the most recent year for which full data was available.
Spanish law allows the temporary residence and work permit to be issued to any foreign woman who has been a victim of gender violence in Spain, regardless of her administrative status. Minor children and certain direct relatives can also qualify on humanitarian grounds.
The permit is initially valid for one year and can be made permanent if the criminal proceedings end in a conviction or in a final ruling recognising gender violence. Deportation procedures based on irregular status are suspended while the case is open.
A November 2021 instruction issued by the ministry headed by Elma Saiz removed earlier restrictive interpretations and clarified that the permit applied to women in irregular and regular situations alike, including those whose residency was tied to a partner through family reunification.
Critics have argued the route has become a relatively accessible path to regularisation, since an initial complaint backed by evidence assessed by a prosecutor or judge is enough to obtain the provisional one-year permit. Time spent on the authorisation also counts towards Spanish nationality, which Latin Americans can request after two years of legal residence.
Official figures showed that foreign women filed 38.37 per cent of gender violence complaints in 2025 and accounted for 43.8 per cent of fatal victims in so-called feminicides, with foreign men responsible for 39.6 per cent of those killings. Foreigners make up around 14 per cent of Spain’s population.
