In short: The disability and dependency Law 4/2026 has been in force in Spain since 23 October 2026. It reforms the general law on the rights of persons with disabilities and the dependency law (support for people who need help in daily life). For foreigners, the most concrete change is in article 5 of the dependency law: asylum seekers and people under temporary protection no longer need to meet the five-year residence rule.
What changes for you today
Nothing is granted automatically: for any support you must ask for recognition of a disability or dependency grade in your autonomous community, and several measures of the law still need implementing rules. What does change today for foreigners:
- If you have temporary protection, or you applied for asylum (with the paperwork proving the application), or you are a beneficiary of asylum or subsidiary protection: article 5 of the dependency law no longer requires Spanish nationality or five years of residence from you. This does not mean a grade will be recognised, only that this requirement does not apply to you. Related guides: temporary protection, how to apply and healthcare under temporary protection and asylum.
- If your situation is different (residence through arraigo, work, family…): the law still refers to Organic Law 4/2000 on foreigners and to treaties with your country, and keeps five years of residence, two of them right before the application.- The new equivalence between dependency and disability (grade I equals 33%, grades II and III equal 65%) does not apply to taxes. The IRPF deduction requirements are in the guide disability tax deduction and Modelo 143.
What happened
BOE no. 246 of 3 October 2026 published Law 4/2026 of 1 October. It entered into force twenty days later, on 23 October. The law is adopted under article 49 of the Constitution (rights of persons with disabilities) and amends two texts:
- The consolidated text of the General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities (Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013): dozens of its provisions.
- The dependency Law 39/2006: service catalogue, procedure and the rights of carers.
The final provisions also touch other laws, among them the horizontal property law (accessibility works), the insurance contract law (it bans disability discrimination) and the law on cohesion of the National Health System.
How it works now: the rules until 22 October
- Dependency law, article 5: rights holders were Spaniards with five years of residence, two of them right before the application. Foreigners were governed by Organic Law 4/2000 and treaties. The exception for asylum seekers and people under temporary protection is new: before Law 4/2026, article 5 did not have it.
- Small children: the thirteenth additional provision of the dependency law covered children under 3.
- General disability law: it already extends services and benefits to foreigners under Organic Law 4/2000 and treaties (article 4.5). Article 4.5 is unchanged by Law 4/2026.
- Disability: recognised from a 33% grade.
What changes
Dependency law (article 2 of Law 4/2026):
- Article 5: asylum seekers with paperwork, beneficiaries of asylum or subsidiary protection and beneficiaries of temporary protection are outside the nationality and five-year residence requirements. For children, the special rule rises from 3 to 6 years.
- Service catalogue (article 15): personal assistance, care and support in housing and the provision of assistive products are added as services. Prevention of dependency and promotion of personal autonomy, already listed together, become two separate services.
- Deadline (article 28): at most 3 months to decide on recognition, and urgent handling when several factors of special vulnerability combine.
- Carers (article 4 bis): rights to training, to work-life balance measures and to priority access to employment policies.
- Telecare (article 22): may use advanced technology, with provision for rural areas.
- Family-care benefits that were suspended are no longer suspended: they are valid again, with the amount that corresponds to them (tenth additional provision of Law 4/2026).
General disability law (article 1 of Law 4/2026):
- Equivalence (article 4.2): dependency grade I equals 33% disability, grades II and III equal 65%. It only has effect where a law or rule expressly provides for it, and never for tax purposes.
- International protection (article 7.4, as reworded): the special protection by public authorities also covers persons with disabilities who seek or hold international protection and face added barriers.
- New rights: article 7 bis (family and home life) and article 7 ter (stronger protection for women and children with disabilities, including protection from gender-based violence).
- Community mental health (article 13 bis): consent and limits on restraints.
- Universal accessibility and updated definitions and principles (ableism, independent living, deinstitutionalisation).
What happens next
The law is in force, but much of it needs implementing rules:
- One year to approve a new dependency scale (the baremo that measures the grade), after agreement of the Territorial Council, and for other implementing rules (twenty-fourth final provision). Until it is approved, its content is not defined.
- 12 months for the autonomous communities to regulate emergency social cash aid (sixth additional provision).
- 6 months to amend Royal Decree 1148/2011 on the benefit for parents of children with cancer or another serious illness (twenty-third final provision).
- Until 1 January 2030 for the communities to make home-based benefits compatible (twenty-first additional provision of the dependency law).
- A single window, in person and online, for dependency and disability applications: no deadline.
- How each community will apply article 5 and the 3 months: ask the social services of your town hall.
What you can do
- If you have temporary protection or applied for asylum and someone in your family needs daily support: ask the social services of your town hall, or the dependency body of your community, how they now take the assessment request. Bring the document that proves your status.
- If you are looking for other general financial support, see the guide on the minimum living income for foreigners.
- How to get the disability certificate as a foreigner: guide. The text of the law is in the BOE.
Official source: Law 4/2026 of 1 October, BOE no. 246.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.