Keeping your home base and spending long stretches in Spain instead

Terms used

• Patrimonio — Patrimonio is the yearly wealth tax on what you own above an allowance.
• Solidarity tax — The solidarity tax is an extra yearly tax on very large fortunes.
• Padrón — The padrón is the register of residents kept by your town hall.
• IBI — The IBI is the yearly property tax charged by your town hall.
• Modelo 210 — The Modelo 210 is the tax return non-residents file for income from Spain.
• Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio — The Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio is the wealth tax on assets above a regional allowance.
• Certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión — The certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión is the paper certificate that proves an EU citizen's registration in Spain.

Key rules

• Visitor limit: Without a residence permit, non-EU visitors may stay 90 days in any rolling 180-day period.
• Tax residency: You become tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year, or if Spain is the base of your activities or economic interests.
• Property: Owning a Spanish home gives no right to stay longer and does not change your tax residency.
• EU citizens: After three months in Spain, you must register in person by appointment.

Can long visits replace a move?

Yes, but only within two sets of limits: immigration day limits and tax-residency triggers. Owning a Spanish home does not change either. Buying property no longer gives a residence permit, so a holiday home does not earn you the right to stay longer.

Immigration: how long you can stay

If you are not an EU citizen and have no Spanish residence permit, you may stay up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. The count looks back 180 days from each day you are in Spain. Days in any Schengen country count. Days in the UK, Ireland or Cyprus do not.

Your entries and exits are now recorded biometrically (face and fingerprints), so overstaying is easy to spot. It can bring a fine, a refusal of entry, a ban of several years and trouble with future visas. If you want to stay longer, you need a visa route, such as the non-lucrative or digital nomad visa. Spain's investment visa for property buying was repealed on 3 April 2025.

Some visa-exempt travellers also need a pre-travel authorisation called ETIAS. Check whether it is operating before you book.

If you are an EU citizen, you can stay as long as you like, but after three months you must register in person by appointment and get the certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión. Workers need proof of their activity. Retirees, students and others not working need enough money and comprehensive health insurance valid in Spain. Registering on the padrón (the local residents' list) is also advised. The documents list below has the detail.

If you already hold a temporary residence permit, it can lapse if you are outside Spain more than 6 months in a 12-month period, apart from justified exceptions. Check the conditions of your own permit.

Tax: the line you must not cross

You become tax resident in Spain if you spend more than 183 days there in a calendar year, or if Spain is the base of your activities or economic interests. Either test is enough. Tax residents are taxed on worldwide income. Non-residents are taxed only on Spanish income.

Watch these points:

• Short trips out of Spain still count as days in Spain, unless you prove you are tax resident elsewhere with a certificate from that country's tax office.
• Your main income or assets being in Spain can make you resident even under the day limit.
• If your spouse and dependent children usually live in Spain, you are presumed resident. You can rebut this with evidence.
• If you are resident in two countries, a tax treaty between them decides.

What a holiday home costs each year

As a non-resident owner you pay:

• IBI, the yearly property tax set by your town hall.
• Non-resident income tax on an unlet home, filed on Modelo 210. It is charged on imputed income, a notional income worked out from the property's cadastral value (its official tax value).
• Tax on rental income if you let it out, filed quarterly or annually.
• Wealth tax (Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio) on Spanish assets above the regional allowance, which varies by region. A temporary solidarity tax on large fortunes also exists.

Rates differ for EU/EEA residents and others, so check them with the tax agency before you buy.

Health cover for long visits

EU, EEA and Swiss visitors can use their EHIC for medically necessary care, but not for planned treatment. UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else needs private insurance. Long-stay visas need comprehensive private cover with no co-payments.

Use the decision below to see whether staying home, splitting your time or moving fits you best.

Should you stay, split your time or move to Spain?

Should you stay home, split your time between home and Spain, or move to Spain?

• Stay home and visit Spain: Your job, family or home tie you firmly to where you live, your income depends on being there, and you want to keep your options open. Short trips and holidays, kept within the 90 days in any rolling 180-day period that non-EU visitors may stay without a residence permit, cover what you want.

• Split your time: You can work remotely or have flexible income, you want long stretches in Spain, and you still want to keep a home base. Count your days in Spain and flights home each year. Staying over 183 days in a calendar year, or making Spain the base of your activities or economic interests, makes you tax resident in Spain. Visits above 90 days in any rolling 180-day period also need a residence permit if you are not an EU citizen.

• Move to Spain: Your income can travel or you have a job lined up, your ties at home are loosening, and you expect to spend most of the year in Spain. Plan for the residence permit, tax and paperwork that come with living there, and for flights home as often as family needs.

Score yourself on five points: ties at home (family, job, property), income that can move, flexibility to leave for weeks at a time, days you would spend in Spain each year against the 90-day and 183-day limits, and the cost and time of flights home. Mostly strong ties and fixed income points to staying. Flexible income with ties you want to keep points to splitting your time. Flexible income, loosening ties and more than 183 days a year points to moving.

Timeline and deadlines

• Count your days in Spain against the 183 days tax-residency trigger: over each calendar year, 1 January to 31 December

• If you are not an EU citizen, check your Schengen days against the 90 days limit: before each trip, looking back over the last 180 days

• If you are an EU citizen staying longer, register and get your certificate of registration: once you pass three months in Spain

• If you own an unlet home, file the yearly non-resident income tax return (Modelo 210) on its imputed income: once a year, generally by the end of the year after the tax year Deadline: 31 December.

• If you rent the home out, file your rental income tax return: 20 days after each quarter ends, or once a year

Documents you need

• Certificate of registration as a citizen of the Union (certificado de registro de ciudadano de la Unión), a paper certificate with your NIE number, issued by the Oficina de Extranjeros or a police station if you are an EU citizen staying more than three months.

• Proof of your activity, either an employment contract or your self-employment registration, if you work in Spain as an EU citizen.

• Proof of sufficient resources, if you are an EU citizen who is retired, studying or not working.

• Comprehensive health insurance valid in Spain, public or private, with no co-payments or similar, if you are an EU citizen who is retired, studying or not working.

• Residence card for family members of an EU citizen (tarjeta de residencia de familiar de ciudadano de la Unión), for family members who are not EU citizens.

• Fee form Modelo 790 código 012, paid for the registration, which you book in person through an appointment (cita previa).

• Certificate from your home country's tax authority proving you are tax resident there, which lets you show that sporadic absences from Spain are not days spent in Spain.

Checklist

• Count every day you are physically in Spain in the calendar year and stay at or below 183 days.

• Check whether Spain is the base of your work or the centre of your money, meaning your main income or assets, because either one alone makes you tax resident.

• Check where your spouse and dependent children usually live, since living in Spain makes tax residency presumed.

• Ask your home tax office for a tax residency certificate, so you can prove residence there if days in Spain are questioned.

• Count your Schengen days over the last 180 days before each trip and keep the total within 90 days, if you are not an EU citizen.

• Choose a visa route if you want to stay beyond that limit, because buying property gives no residence permit.

• Register in person by appointment once you pass three months in Spain, if you are an EU citizen.

• Ask your town hall for your yearly IBI property tax bill and pay it.

• Put the yearly non-resident income tax filing for your unlet home in your diary.

• Ask the Spanish tax agency or a tax adviser whether wealth tax applies to your Spanish assets in your region.

• Keep time outside Spain under 6 months in any 12-month period, if you hold a temporary residence permit.

What to watch out for

• Overstaying the Schengen limit: If you stay past the 90 days limit you risk a fine of about 501 to 10,000 euros, an entry refusal, expulsion and an entry ban of up to several years. It can also cause problems getting future visas or permits. Count back 180 days before every trip, remember that days in the UK, Ireland and Cyprus do not count, and leave before you reach the limit.

• Your days are now recorded biometrically: Passport stamps are being replaced by face and fingerprint registration at the border, so your entries and exits are on record and overstays are easy to spot. Keep your own day count and check whether the pre-travel authorisation (ETIAS) is operating before you book.

• Long absences can end your residence permit: A temporary residence permit lapses if you are outside Spain more than 6 months in a 12-month period, and you would have to reapply. Long absences can also hurt renewals, long-term residence and nationality applications. Plan your trips so you stay under the limit, keep proof of any justified reason for a long absence, and check the conditions of your permit type.

Frequently asked questions

Does buying a holiday home in Spain let me stay longer?

No, buying a home in Spain no longer gives you a residence permit, so your allowed stay does not change. The old property-investment visa was abolished on 3 April 2025. If you want to live in Spain longer, look at routes such as the non-lucrative visa or the digital nomad visa.

What taxes do I pay each year on a Spanish holiday home if I am not resident?

You pay the yearly municipal property tax (IBI) plus non-resident income tax on an imputed income for the home, even if you never rent it out. That income is 1.1% of the cadastral value (the official property value), or 2% if the value has not been revised in 10 years, taxed at 19% for EU/EEA residents and 24% for others.

What health cover do I need for long visits to Spain?

EU/EEA and Swiss visitors can use their EHIC card for medically necessary care, and UK visitors use a GHIC, but neither covers planned treatment. Everyone else needs private travel or health insurance. Long-stay visas require comprehensive private insurance with no co-payments.

How long can I be away from Spain if I hold a residence permit?

A temporary residence permit lapses if you are outside Spain for more than 6 months in a 12-month period, unless you have a justified reason. Long absences can also break the continuity you need for renewals, long-term residence or nationality.