Ukrainian citizens ranked first in the number of residence permits issued by Spain to foreign nationals in 2025, according to data from Spain’s Ministry of Social Security and Migration.
According to the Spanish ministry, 244,579 residence permits were issued to Ukrainian citizens in 2025. They were followed by citizens of Venezuela—224,341 permits—and Morocco—187,790. These three countries accounted for 42% of all residence permits issued to foreigners in Spain in 2025.
In total, Spain issued 1,577,842 residence permits to foreigners in 2025, which is 7.8% more than the previous year, or 114,238 more permits. This growth was due, in particular, to an increase in the number of permits issued to citizens of Venezuela, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
Spanish authorities specifically note that these statistics reflect the number of permits, not the number of unique individuals. The same person could, for example, receive an initial permit and then a renewal within the same year, so this figure does not equal the number of new residents.
In the case of Ukraine, the temporary protection regime for people displaced by the war played a major role.
The report also notes that 238,007 permits in the “other exceptional circumstances” category were issued to Ukrainian citizens under the Temporary Protection Directive. This is 11.5% more than in 2024, with 85% of these permits being renewals.
According to the statistics, Russians ranked 11th among the largest groups of recipients of Spanish residence permits, with 27,655 permits issued.
By region, the highest number of residence permits were issued in Catalonia—311,038—followed by the Valencian Community—282,897—Madrid—275,607—and Andalusia—232,201. These four autonomous communities accounted for 70% of all permits issued to foreigners in 2025.
Separately, Spain reported 108,253 residence permits for study purposes issued to foreign students and their family members in 2025. The most common nationalities in this category were Colombia, Peru, Morocco, the United States, and China.
