Spain Minimum Stay Rule Struck Down by Supreme Court

Last Updated on June 16, 2026 by Bruno Bianchi

Since the new Reglamento de Extranjería was approved on May 20th 2025, foreign residents in Spain have been told they must spend at least 183 days a year in the country to keep their residence permit. A recent Supreme Court decision has now challenged that idea, and the Spain minimum stay requirement that immigration offices have relied on may no longer be enforceable.

In this article we explain exactly what the Court ruled, which permits are affected, and what it means for renewing a non-lucrative visa, a digital nomad visa, an EU family member card or long-term residency. We also cover what has not changed, especially for Spanish citizenship, where the rules are very different.

Here is what the latest ruling, together with the analysis of an immigration lawyer, tells us.

Watch: the Spain minimum stay ruling explained

What the Supreme Court decided about the Spain minimum stay rule

On 5 May 2026, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of Spain’s Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) issued judgment number 564/2026, with reference ECLI:ES:TS:2026:2130. It declared null and void Article 14.3 of Royal Decree 240/2007, the provision that caused an EU family member residence card to expire after absences of more than six months in a year.

The Court’s reasoning is straightforward but powerful. Freedom of movement and the right to choose one’s residence are fundamental rights protected by Articles 19 and 13 of the Spanish Constitution.

Any genuine limitation of a fundamental right can only be imposed by an organic law, as required by Articles 53 and 81 of the Constitution. A royal decree, which is a regulation or bylaw, does not have that rank. Because the absence limit lived only in a regulation, the Court ruled it had no legal basis and was null from the outset.

Since the judgment annuls a general provision, the Court ordered that its ruling be published in the official state gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), giving it effect for everyone, not just the person who brought the case.

Why a bylaw cannot impose a Spain minimum stay

This is the legal heart of the matter. Spanish law allows the state to limit how long a resident can be outside the country, but only if that limit is written into a law passed by Parliament, not into a regulation drafted by the government.

The Spain minimum stay limit, expressed as more than six months of absence in a one-year period, sat in a regulation. The Supreme Court concluded that this is exactly the kind of restriction on a fundamental right that the Constitution reserves to an organic law.

The May 2026 decision did not come out of nowhere. It follows earlier Supreme Court rulings, beginning with judgment 731/2023 of 5 June 2023, which annulled the equivalent absence rule for ordinary temporary residence permits, and was reiterated in further judgments in 2023 and 2024. The Court has now extended the same doctrine to EU family member cards.

The case behind the ruling

The case involved a non-EU national married to a Spanish citizen. She had travelled to Thailand and remained there from October 2020 to June 2021, a period of more than six months, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions in force at the time.

Her application for a permanent EU family member card was rejected on the grounds of that absence. A first-instance court in Alicante ruled in her favour, the regional High Court of Valencia reversed that decision against her, and the Supreme Court has now sided with her and struck down the rule entirely.

Which residence permits the Spain minimum stay ruling affects

To understand the practical impact, Spainguru spoke with immigration lawyer Ainhoa Manero of Sterna Abogados. Her analysis is that the ruling reaches well beyond the single family member card at the centre of the case, because the same legal flaw affects any minimum stay imposed by regulation rather than by law.

As she explained the principle:

“The Supreme Court has said that those 183 days are not mandatory in order to renew a residency, because they are in a reglamento, in a bylaw. And they have said that it should be in a law.

So as long as this is not included in the law and is only in the bylaw, this would not be mandatory in order to renew your residency.”

For non-lucrative visa holders, this is significant. According to Manero, a non-lucrative visa holder can now renew even without having spent 183 days in Spain, provided they still meet the other requirements such as keeping valid private health insurance and showing sufficient financial means. You can read more about those conditions in the Spain Non-Lucrative Visa guide.

Digital nomad visa holders benefit in the same way. Manero confirmed that nomad permit holders do not need to be in Spain for six months a year to renew, as long as they continue to meet the remaining conditions of the Spain Digital Nomad Visa.

The ruling may even reach long-term residency. As Manero put it:

“The law for the long-term residency only says that you have to be living continuously in Spain. But it doesn’t exactly mention that maximum of ten months in the last five years that is mentioned in the reglamento, in the bylaw.

And what the ruling says is that you cannot put a maximum time of being out of Spain in a reglamento. It should be in a law.”

In practice, that means the strict cap of no more than ten months outside Spain in the previous five years is no longer a mandatory limit for long-term residency. Applicants will instead need to demonstrate that they have genuinely been living in Spain on a continuous basis.

How immigration offices may apply the ruling in practice

A favourable ruling and a smooth renewal are not always the same thing. Manero was candid that immigration offices may be slow to apply the decision and could continue to deny renewals on absence grounds for now.

“I think they are not applying this yet, but we will have to see. What is clear is that the appeal will be approved.”

She added that even a denial issued a few months ago can be challenged through a procedure known as a recurso de revisión, which asks the immigration authority to re-examine an application in light of the new Supreme Court ruling.

The key practical point is that immigration authorities can no longer use time spent outside Spain as a reason to refuse a renewal. An applicant will still submit a passport, but a long absence is no longer a valid basis for refusal. If an office denies a renewal anyway, the appeal is, in Manero’s words, very likely to succeed. When that happens, qualified immigration lawyers in Spain can handle the appeal or the review request.

What the Spain minimum stay ruling does not change

This is where many readers risk drawing the wrong conclusion. The Spain minimum stay ruling removes an absence-based ground for refusing a renewal. It does not erase the other conditions of your permit, and it does not touch the separate rules for Spanish citizenship.

Spanish citizenship is not affected

The requirements for applying for Spanish nationality come from a different law and from court decisions, not from the immigration regulation that was annulled. For that reason they remain fully in force.

In broad terms, applicants for citizenship are still expected to reside in Spain continuously, which case law has defined as not being outside the country for more than around three months per year. Two main groups apply: nationals of Ibero-American countries, the Philippines and a few others can apply after two years of legal residence, while most other applicants, such as Americans, British, Canadians and Australians, apply after ten years.

Throughout those qualifying years, the citizenship presence expectation of roughly nine months per year in Spain still applies. So a resident who spends long periods abroad may be able to keep renewing a residence permit yet still fall short of the stricter path to a Spanish passport.

Your other permit conditions still apply

The Spain minimum stay ruling only removes the absence limit as a ground for refusal. Non-lucrative and digital nomad visa holders must still prove their income, maintain private health insurance and meet every other renewal condition. Nothing here weakens those requirements.

The tax angle behind the 183-day figure

The 183-day number is not only an immigration figure. It is also the threshold that generally makes someone a tax resident of Spain, which is why this ruling has a financial dimension as well as a legal one.

Manero noted that some residents deliberately spend fewer than 183 days in Spain for tax reasons. Now that the Spain minimum stay no longer blocks a renewal, those residents can keep their permit and manage their tax position at the same time, though the two goals need to be planned together. The interaction between residency and tax status is explained in more detail in Spainguru’s guide to taxes for expats in Spain.

As she summarised the wider point, every decision about time spent in Spain carries immigration, tax and long-term consequences, which is why a coherent strategy matters more than ever.

Where to get help and join the community

If you are planning a renewal and want professional guidance, here you can find Spainguru’s recommended services for Spanish visas: https://spainguru.es/services-for-spanish-visas/.

You can also discuss your own situation with others going through the same process. Join Spainguru’s Spain Non Lucrative Visa Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spanishnlv.

Bottom line

The Supreme Court has confirmed that a Spain minimum stay cannot be imposed by regulation alone, striking down the absence rule for EU family member cards and reinforcing the same principle for non-lucrative and digital nomad permits. In short, time spent outside Spain can no longer be used to deny a renewal.

What has not changed is just as important. The path to Spanish citizenship still demands continuous residence of around nine months per year, and every other permit condition remains in place.

If you have been refused a renewal because of your absences, or you travel frequently and feared losing your status, it is worth reviewing your case now in light of this ruling and building a strategy that balances your immigration and tax goals.

This article is for informational purposes and reflects the experience of the Spainguru community alongside publicly available sources. It is not legal advice. For professional guidance, consult expert immigration lawyers — see https://spainguru.es/services-for-spanish-visas/.

Bruno Bianchi CEO & Spain Immigration Expert

Bruno Bianchi is the founder and CEO of Spainguru, Spain's largest expat immigration community with 150,000+ members. Since 2014 he has helped thousands of people relocate to Spain through expert guides, webinars and vetted professional services covering visas, residency, taxes and life in Spain.

See Full Bio

Spain Non-Lucrative Visa Spain Digital Nomad Visa Spanish Residency Taxes in Spain for Expats Moving to Spain