Many foreigners have the same question. If I move to Spain, how long can I live in the country without actually applying for residency and obtaining my papers? What is the legal length of time I am allowed to stay without the long and tedious residence permit application? In this article, we are going to solve this doubt once and for all!
Key takeaways
- 90-day rule: you can live in Spain without residency for a maximum of 90 days; after that you need a residence permit or must leave, otherwise you are considered irregular.
- How days count: the 90 days are counted within any 180-day period, backwards from your last entry, and do not restart: after a 30-day stay and a three-week break you only have 60 days left.
- Visa-free entry: depending on your country of origin you may not need a Schengen visa and can enter freely for up to 90 days, without any prior application.
- EU family: marrying or registering a civil partnership in Spain with an EU citizen gives access to a residence permit that lasts 5 years and allows you to work.
- Entrepreneur Law: entrepreneur, highly qualified, intra-company transfer and research permits can be obtained directly from Spain; the salary threshold for the highly qualified visa is updated every year, so check the current amount.
- Arraigo: social arraigo needs 2 years in Spain without legal residency, sufficient financial means and family ties or an integration report; sociolaboral arraigo needs 2 years and an employment contract.
In order to answer this question, we are going to use the 90-day rule.
This rule simply states that you can live in Spain without residency for a maximum of 90 days. After those 3 months, you need to either obtain a residence permit or leave the country.
If you do not request your papers during that period, you will be considered irregular.
An important nuance: these 90 days do not restart every time you enter and leave the country. They are calculated within any 180 days, counting backwards from the day of your last entry.
For example: if you enter Spain and stay 30 days, leave for three weeks and re-enter, you do not have another 90 new days; you will only have 60 days of legal stay within that 180-day window.
And that is because the shortest stay option is the tourist (or Schengen) visa, which lasts exactly for 90 days. That is, if you plan to visit the country for tourism, business, studies, or for any other reason that will take less than 90 days, you must apply for a tourist visa in order to enter Spain.
But if you plan to stay longer than that, a residence permit is required.
Here you can find a list of all the different residence permits in the country. Each has its own requirements, and the best option entirely depends on your particular situation.
Nevertheless, bear in mind that according to your country of origin, you may not need to apply for a Schengen visa in order to stay for a maximum of 90 days in Spain. So you could freely enter the country without any prior application. Here you will find a list of all the countries that need to apply for one.
When do I become resident?
But now we need to clearly understand this next step.
When do you become a resident in the country?
Because you may have heard the distinction between resident and non-resident, which we explained in depth in this article.
But to summarize and help you understand, you will become a resident in the country after spending 183 days per year in Spain.
If you live in the country or stay for anything less than those 6 months, you are considered a non-resident.
This distinction is crucial for many reason, but perhaps the most important is taxes.
If you are regarded as a resident, you must pay resident taxes. This means paying income tax for the worldwide income generated in Spain.
Also, in order to renew certain residencies like the non-lucrative visa, you must stay in the country for 183 days minimum, hence you must become a resident.
Do you have any questions? Ask our immigration lawyers anything:
What to do if the legal 90 days are over
So, as we have just mentioned, doubts are over: you can stay a maximum of 3 months in Spain before becoming “illegal” provided that you don’t have residency.
But what happens then? What are the best alternatives to avoid legal problems if your 90 days as a tourist are nearly over?
The vast majority of residence permits must be applied for at the Spanish consulate in your country of origin. That would require you to leave the country in order to get your legal residence and then come back again.
But next, we are going to analyze the different alternatives to avoid leaving the country. You could legally extend your stay after those 90 days are over with the following options:
Family member of an EU citizen visa
Due to its requirements, this is one of the preferred options for many foreigners.
Because if you get married or register as a civil partnership in Spain with a European Union citizen, you can obtain your residence permit easily.
A residence permit that will last for 5 years and that will allow you to work in the country.
And you can do the whole procedure even if you are already in Spain and those 90 days as a tourist are over.
Here you will find a complete list with all the requirements.
Student visa
Since Royal Decree 1155/2024 and its regulation on student visas, you can now travel to Spain with a tourist visa, find a University in the country, enroll there, and obtain your visa so you can stay in the country for the whole length of your studies.
You just need to make sure to start the process at least 2 months before the start of your studies, and this visa will be yours.
You can even do paid internships with it!
Make sure to find a course that takes at least 20 teaching hours per week, and the student visa will be for sure one of the easiest paths to live in Spain for the long run.
Residencies under the Entrepreneur Law
There are different types of visas under the Entrepreneur’s Law that can be obtained directly from Spain too.
These residencies were created to attract talent and investment to Spain, hence the need to create an easy process for all foreigners that quality under it.
In that sense, the different alternatives are:
- The entrepreneur visa, if you plan to start your own project in the country, and it involves a high level of technology and is completely innovative
- The highly qualified visa, with a salary that exceeds the minimum threshold set annually by the Ministry (check the current amount before submitting the application, since it is updated every year based on INE data)
- Intra-company transfer visa, if your company relocates you to Spain.
- Residency for investigation purposes.
Arraigo
And, finally, an option chosen by many foreigners who have overstayed in Spain past those 90 days, and none of the options we have seen before fit their particular case.
With the arraigo procedure, you can get residency in Spain after living in the country under a prolonged irregular situation.
The exact duration depends on the type of roots process:
- For the social arraigo, you must have lived in Spain for 2 years without legal residency and prove your integration through family ties with legal residents or a report of social integration, in addition to having sufficient financial means.
- It is no longer necessary to have an offer or an employment contract for this modality: if what you have is an employment contract, the route that corresponds to you is socio-labor roots (see below).
- For working arraigo or arraigo sociolaboral (the figure that until May 2025 was known as labor arraigo), the years required in Spain are 2, you must also have an employment contract to join once you obtain your residency or your application is admitted for processing
- And finally, for family arraigo, it no longer covers fathers or mothers of Spanish children (that case is now processed as a relative of a Spanish person, a different procedure). Since RD 1155/2024, family roots are limited to two cases:
- Be a father, mother, or guardian of a minor from another EU country, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland who is in your care and with whom you live
- Be the person who provides essential and constant support to a person with disabilities of those same nationalities
Speak with one of our
immigration lawyers
Not sure which immigration pathway fits your situation? Our legal team will evaluate your case, recommend the best strategy, and handle the process from start to finish.
