Residency rule, Spain

Spain Long-Term Residence — Total Time Away

Summary

To get long-term residence in Spain you need 5 years of legal and continuous residence before you apply. Your absences from Spain in those 5 years must not add up to more than 10 months. If the absences were for work reasons, the total can be up to 18 months. A second limit applies at the same time: no single absence longer than 6 months in a row. If you go over, the 5 years are not treated as continuous and the immigration office can refuse the application.

Limit
10 months outside Spain in total
Period
The 5 years right before your application
For work reasons
Up to 18 months in total, each absence still up to 6 months
Sister limit
No single absence longer than 6 months in a row
Law
Royal Decree 1155/2024, articles 176 and 183
Run by
The immigration office (Oficina de Extranjería) of your province

Who it applies to

The rule

Spain has two long-term permits, and both use the same absence limits. Article 183 of the immigration regulation, Royal Decree 1155/2024, covers national long-term residence (larga duración). Article 176 covers EU long-term residence (larga duración-UE). Each asks that you resided in Spain legally and continuously for the 5 years before the application.

Both articles then say what continuity means. Continuity is not affected by absences from Spain of up to 6 months in a row, as long as all absences together are not more than 10 months within the 5 years. Exits from Spain made in an irregular way are not protected by this rule. This page is about the total of 10 months. The limit of 6 months in a row is the sister rule, Spain Long-Term Residence — Longest Time Away.

For absences for work reasons the total is larger. Continuity is not affected by absences of up to 6 months in a row as long as their sum is not more than 18 months within the 5 years.

Article 183 adds two cases for the national permit. Absences caused by force majeure that is properly proved do not affect continuity, and the office judges each case. Continuity is also kept for people employed by registered non-governmental organisations, foundations or associations of public benefit who work abroad on research, development cooperation or humanitarian projects.

The regulation applies from 20 May 2025 and replaced Royal Decree 557/2011. The immigration office checks your earlier periods of residence when it receives the application. The EU permit also asks for enough regular income and other conditions, so the absence count is one part of the decision.

Why it exists

Long-term residence gives a permit with no end to the right to live and work in Spain, on terms close to those of Spanish citizens. Spain gives it to people who have really lived in the country for 5 years. The total limit stops a person from qualifying through a permit held on paper while living elsewhere in many trips. The EU type of the permit comes from Directive 2003/109/EC on long-term residents, and Spain applies the same absence limits to its national permit.

Counting the days

You add up all the time you spent outside Spain in the 5 years that end on the day you apply. Every trip counts, in any country, including other EU countries.

  1. Choose the date you plan to apply and go back 5 years from it.
  2. List every trip out of Spain in that period, with the day you left and the day you returned.
  3. Count the days of each trip and add them. To be careful, treat 300 days as 10 months.
  4. Mark which trips were for work reasons and keep proof, because for those the total can reach 18 months.
  5. Check that no single trip was longer than 6 months.
  6. If you are over, see whether a later application date moves an old trip out of the 5 years.
How Countr counts it. Countr adds up your days outside Spain in the last 60 months for Spain Long-Term Residence — Total Time Away, as if you applied today. It treats 10 months as 300 days and warns you 30 days before. Ten calendar months are 303 to 306 days, so the card warns before the regulation would, never after. The app does not know the reason for a trip, so it does not use the larger total of 18 months for work absences, and it does not halve study time. Only days the app can see count as days away. If your photos or location history have big gaps, your real time away can be more than the app shows.

Track Spain Long-Term Residence — Total Time Away on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

Six weeks away every year

Fatima has held a residence permit since 1 September 2022 and plans to apply on 1 September 2027. Each year she spends 6 weeks in Senegal, 42 days, and takes one weekend trip of 3 days. That is 45 days a year and 225 days in 5 years. She is under 10 months in total, and no trip is close to 6 months. Her 5 years count as continuous.

Three months away every year

Igor spends every winter in Ukraine, 90 days each year. In 5 years that is 450 days, close to 15 months. No single absence is longer than 6 months, so the sister limit is respected. But the total is over 10 months, and the trips were not for work. His residence is not treated as continuous for long-term residence.

Work trips and the larger total

Elena is an engineer for a company in Zaragoza. Over 5 years her employer sends her abroad on 8 projects of 50 days each, 400 days in total, and she has posting letters for each one. Four hundred days is more than 10 months but less than 18 months. Because the absences were for work reasons and none was longer than 6 months, her continuity is not affected.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“As long as each trip is under 6 months, I am fine.”
Two limits apply together. Each absence must be 6 months or less, and all absences in the 5 years must add up to 10 months or less.
“Trips to France or Portugal do not count, because they are in the EU.”
For getting the permit, the regulation counts absences from Spanish territory. A week in Lisbon is a week away from Spain.
“Ten months means 10 months a year.”
It is 10 months in the whole period of 5 years, which is an average of 2 months a year.
“The 5 years run from my first permit and are fixed.”
The 5 years are the ones right before your application. If you apply later, old trips can fall outside the period.

Questions and answers

How many days can I be outside Spain in 5 years and still get long-term residence?

Up to 10 months in total, and each absence up to 6 months in a row. The regulation speaks of months, not days. Ten calendar months are 303 to 306 days, so staying under 300 days is a careful target.

What counts as an absence for work reasons?

The regulation says only absences for work reasons and gives no list. A posting by your employer or a business trip is the plain case. Keep documents that show the dates and the work link, because you carry the proof.

Do the days I leave and return count as days away?

The regulation does not say. It counts in months. If you are near the limit, count travel days as days away, so that a stricter reading does not put you over.

What happens if I went over 10 months?

The 5 years before your application are not treated as continuous, and the office can refuse. You can wait and apply later, when 5 years that respect both limits have passed. Your temporary permit follows its own renewal rules in the meantime.

Does time as a student in Spain count?

For the EU long-term permit, time on a stay for studies counts at half its length, and only if you hold a residence permit when you apply. A study stay is not residence, so it does not count in full.

How does the office know my trips?

The office checks your earlier periods of residence and asks for a police report. Passport stamps and border records show entries and exits from the Schengen area. You should keep your own record.

Sources

Other rules for Spain

See all trackers

This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.