When can Spain refuse or end an EU citizen's right to stay?

Key rules

• Appeals: After a written refusal, 1 month for reconsideration or 2 months for court. After silence (3 months with no decision), reconsideration has no deadline and court is 6 months.
• Social assistance: Claiming social assistance does not automatically mean expulsion; your case must be assessed individually.
• Convictions: A past conviction alone is not enough; the threat must come from your own conduct and be present and serious.
• Appeal deadlines: If your right to stay is ended, you can file an optional administrative appeal within one month or go to court within two months of notification.

Your right to stay as an EU citizen is strong. Spain can refuse or end it only on limited grounds: becoming an unreasonable burden, public order, security or health, abuse or fraud, and, for permanent residence, a long absence. Each case needs an individual decision made through a procedure with safeguards. Nothing is automatic.

Running out of money or health cover

If you do not work, you keep your right to stay while you have sufficient resources and health cover. Falling below the income yardstick (Retired or not working, funds and health cover for EU citizens) does not by itself end your right. Your personal circumstances are what count.

The authorities must look at your case, including how much aid you received, for how long, whether your difficulties are temporary, and how long you have lived in Spain.

Public order, security or health

Spain can refuse entry or end residence on these grounds, but only if:

• The decision is based on your own conduct.
• Your conduct is a genuine, present and serious threat to a fundamental interest of society.
• The measure is proportionate.

Public-order grounds cannot be used for economic ends. Health grounds cover only diseases with epidemic potential under international health rules, or other serious contagious diseases that Spain protects against.

You get extra protection the longer you stay. Permanent residents can be removed only on serious grounds of public order or security. People who have lived in Spain 10 years or more, and minors, can be removed only on imperative grounds of security.

Family members of an EU citizen are covered by the same public order, security and health rules and the same abuse and fraud rules. Their own residence can lapse if the EU citizen no longer meets the conditions.

Abuse and fraud

Spain can refuse, end or withdraw your rights if you use false documents or enter a marriage of convenience. An honest mistake or a change in circumstances is not fraud.

Long absences

Absences of up to six months a year do not break your continuity. Longer absences for military service do not either, and neither does one absence of up to 12 months for an important reason.

If you hold permanent residence, you lose it only after more than two consecutive years away from Spain. If you are not a permanent resident, your right can lapse when you no longer meet the conditions: work status, resources or health cover.

How the procedure works

The decision must come from the government delegation or sub-delegation in writing, with reasons. It must state the remedies open to you and the deadline to leave. That deadline is normally at least one month, except in urgent cases.

If you want to appeal

You can appeal a refusal to register or to issue a family card in the same way as a decision ending your right to stay. Deadlines run from the day you are notified.

• You received a written refusal: request reconsideration from the office that decided within one month, or go to court within two months. Use one or the other.
• You received no answer: silence counts as a refusal after 3 months with no decision. Then you can ask for reconsideration at any time, or go to court within six months.

You can ask the court to suspend the decision while it decides, and you can apply again at any time with the missing proof.