Moroccans in Spain form 12.7% of the 5,598,691 foreigners in Spain. They were formerly the largest foreign group in Spain, but were surpassed by Romanians in 2007. In 2003, they were estimated to make up about 6% of all Moroccans abroad.

Before 1985, Moroccans did not require visas to enter Spain. Many young came for seasonal or short-term work in agriculture and industry, coming and going from Spain without settling there. A new visa law implemented that year, La Ley de Extranjeria, was quite restrictive, and did not provide for permanent residence permits. As late as 1992, official statistics showed only 16,665 Moroccans residing in Spain (of whom 14,998 lived in peninsular Spain). In the following years, many Moroccans came to take jobs in the agricultural, hospitality, construction, and service sectors. By 2000, their population had increased to 199,782 individuals. Along with the growing numbers of migrants, their composition also shifted, with a higher proportion of women among them.

Spain (ⁱ/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.

Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.