From temporary protection to a residence permit: the options for Ukrainians in 2026

The status in 2026: until 4 March 2027 in Spain, 4 March 2028 in the EU

In the summer of 2025 the EU Council adopted implementing decision (EU) 2025/1460, extending temporary protection for people displaced from Ukraine to 4 March 2027. In Spain permits and TIE cards were extended to that date automatically by Orden INT/96/2026, with no separate application. Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1912 of 30 July 2026 has extended protection at EU level to 4 March 2028, but the Spanish order for 2028 has not been published yet, so the confirmed date in Spain for now is 4 March 2027. Current announcements are published on the Ucrania Urgente portal of the Ministry of Inclusion.

As a reminder, protection in Spain gives you:

• the right to live and work legally (both as an employee and as an autónomo);
• a TIE card with protección temporal status;
• access to healthcare, schools and banking services;
• social support for vulnerable categories.

In parallel the EU is already discussing an "exit strategy": member states are advised to help people move onto national statuses such as work, study or residency. That is precisely why 2026 is the best time to plan.

Why plan the transition now

Three reasons not to put it off:

• The clock. Under general administrative practice, time on temporary protection does not count directly towards the 5 years for larga duracion permanent residency or towards the period for citizenship. Every year of waiting is a year that never enters the count.
• The status is finite. Protection is tied to EU decisions. A standard residence permit is tied only to your own situation: work, study, settlement.
• Queues. As the regime nears its end, the flow of transition applications will inevitably grow, and with it processing times and the wait for citas.

The good news: the years you have lived in Spain on protection are not wasted. They count fully towards arraigo, where what matters is continuous residence, and they give you a work history, the language and connections, the foundation of any strong file.

Transition options compared

The choice depends on what you already have: a contract, a period of residence, savings or study plans. A combination is often best: for example, employment plus preparing arraigo as a fallback route.

Arraigo: the main route for most people

If you arrived between 2022 and 2024 and have lived in Spain without interruption, you have almost certainly already met the main condition for arraigo: 2 years of actual residence (after the RD 1155/2024 reform the period was cut from 3 years). Time on temporary protection works in your favour here, because it is legal and documented residence.

What to check today:

• An unbroken padrón. The historical certificate must cover the whole period. If you moved, make sure the re-registration went through.
• Trips abroad. Total absences should stay within a benchmark of 90 days over 2 years. Long trips to Ukraine can break continuity.
• The ground. A contract (for sociolaboral), funds or an integration report (for social), training (for socioformativo).
• A criminal record certificate from Ukraine, with an apostille and a sworn translation.

A detailed breakdown of the conditions is in our article on arraigo social in 2026.

Documents from Ukraine: the slowest link

Almost every transition route runs into Ukrainian documents: birth and marriage certificates, a criminal record certificate, diplomas. The problems are always the same:

• the originals stayed at home or were lost;
• you need an apostille, which is only affixed in Ukraine;
• you need sworn translations that the Spanish administration accepts;
• certificates have limited validity and are easy to let expire.

We obtain documents from Ukraine remotely, through powers of attorney and partners on the ground, with an apostille and a sworn translation. How that works is set out on the documents from your home country service page. It is worth ordering early: the request, apostille and translation cycle takes several weeks or more.

A step-by-step plan for 2026-2027

1. Diagnosis (now). We count your period of residence and check the padrón, your work and your family situation, then choose a target status and a fallback.
2. Documents from Ukraine (1 to 2 months). We start obtaining certificates and apostilles in parallel with the rest of the preparation.
3. Strengthening the file. Official work, Spanish courses, an informe de arraigo: everything that makes the application stronger.
4. Filing. We complete the transition without waiting for protection to end and for the peak queues.
5. After approval. A new TIE card, and from that moment your time counts towards larga duracion.

A timing benchmark: from diagnosis to filing usually takes 1 to 3 months, and the decision roughly 3 months more. Start in 2026 and you meet March 2027 with a stable status already in hand.

How Krepko does it for you

We run transitions off temporary protection end to end:

• we diagnose the situation and choose the route: work, arraigo, study or a combination;
• we obtain documents from Ukraine remotely, with an apostille and a sworn translation;
• we assemble the file, book the citas and submit the application;
• we track the case through to the TIE card and beyond: renewals and the path to permanent residency.

Legally significant acts are performed by licensed specialists: lawyers, gestores and sworn translators. There is more about the service on the Residency in Spain page; the easiest way to start is a free conversation.

Sources

• Ucrania Urgente - protección temporal (Ministerio de Inclusion)
• EUR-Lex: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1460 - extension to 04.03.2027
• Portal de Inmigracion - information sheets on residence permit types