On the ordinary route, Spain grants an indefinite residence permit to nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who have lived here legally and continuously for five years. The rules sit in Real Decreto 1155/2024, the immigration regulation in force since 20 May 2025, which replaced Real Decreto 557/2011. This guide covers the national process, from who qualifies and the absence limits to what you file, what it costs and how the permit can be lost.
Nothing converts on its own. Your tarjeta de identidad de extranjero — foreigner identity card, the TIE, stays as it is until you apply. Filing can extend your legal validity and leaves the date printed on the card unchanged. EU citizens and UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement follow separate rules, covered further down.
Last verified: 9 October 2026.
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What the permit is
The law calls the status residencia de larga duración — long-term residence. It authorises you to live and work in Spain indefinitely on the same terms as Spanish nationals (Ley Orgánica 4/2000, article 32). If you have been living here on a non-lucrative visa residence, the ban on working ends once you hold it, because the permit carries the same working rights as a Spaniard.
The regulation splits the status in two. Residencia de larga duración nacional — national long-term residence (articles 182 to 185) needs five years of residence and no resources or insurance test. Residencia de larga duración-UE — EU long-term residence (articles 175 to 178) adds a resources test and health insurance, and carries mobility rights under Directive 2003/109/EC. Both use the same form and the same fees. The comparison of the two permits covers the choice.
Who qualifies for the national permit
The general route needs legal, continuous residence in Spain for the five years before you file (article 183.1). Absences do not break continuity within these limits:
- Each absence lasts no more than six continuous months.
- All absences together add up to no more than ten months across the five years.
- For work-related absences, each lasts up to six continuous months and the total stays within eighteen months.
- Justified force majeure does not break continuity. The office assesses each case individually.
- Exits made irregularly get no protection.
The regulation does not say which documents prove your absences. On receiving the file the office checks your previous residence times itself (article 184.4). Keep your own record of trips from the first year, with flights, bookings and anything else that shows dates.
The ministry’s information sheet lists four further conditions. You have no criminal record, in Spain or in the countries where you lived during the last five years, for offences that exist in Spanish law. You do not represent a threat to public order, security or health. You are not listed as inadmissible in countries with which Spain has a relevant agreement. You are not within a return-ban period agreed on a previous voluntary return. A conviction does not decide the case by itself. The foreign certificate serves as the basis for assessing whether you are a threat, and a refusal must be reasoned (articles 184.3.e and 184.5).
Article 183.3 also grants the national permit without the five years to some groups. They include resident recipients of a contributory retirement pension under Spain’s Social Security system, people born in Spain who had three consecutive years of legal residence immediately before applying after reaching adulthood, former Spaniards of origin, and stateless persons and refugees in Spain whose status Spain or another EU state has recognised.
Applying: window, form and documents
File in the two months before your current authorisation expires. Filing in that window extends your authorisation until the decision. Filing within three months after expiry also extends it, with a possible penalty procedure for the lateness. If you hold a valid authorisation and already meet the five-year test, this window does not apply and you can file earlier (articles 184.2 and 177.2).
You file in person at the Oficina de Extranjería — immigration office of your province, which for the Costa del Sol is Málaga, or online through the ministry’s Mercurio portal. Book a cita previa — appointment through the government’s sede electrónica for in-person filing. The documents the ministry’s sheet lists for the national permit are:
- Form EX-11, original and copy, with the national long-term residence box ticked (general case, five years).
- A complete copy of your valid passport or travel document.
- The receipt for the application fee.
- Where it applies, a criminal record certificate from your country of origin or the countries where you lived in the last five years.
- If you have school-age children, a report confirming they are enrolled.
The office obtains the Spanish criminal record certificate itself (article 184.4). Foreign public documents normally need an apostille or consular legalisation, and documents in a foreign language normally need a sworn translation into Spanish, unless a treaty exemption or an accepted alternative applies (ministry sheet 61). Neither ministry sheet for these permits lists a padrón certificate, so confirm with your office whether it asks for one.
Fees
Two payments apply, both confirmed October 2026 against Orden PJC/617/2025. The application fee is the Modelo 790 código 052, heading 2.6, at €21.87. It falls due when the office admits your application and must be paid within ten working days. The card fee is the Modelo 790 código 012, heading 4.5, at €21.87, for the card itself. Together that is €43.74.
The decision and the card
The office has three months from the date your application reaches its register to decide. When that deadline expires without a notified decision, the application is treated as granted by administrative silence (article 184.6). Lawful suspensions can stop the clock, for example a request to remedy missing documents (Ley 39/2015, articles 22 to 24). I found no official Málaga processing time, so none is quoted here.
Once the permit is granted you must apply in person for the card within one month of the notification. The card is renewed first at five years, then every five years until the holder turns 30 and every ten years after that. The permit itself has no end date.
How the permit is lost
An absence from the territory of the European Union of twelve consecutive months is a ground for ending the permit (Ley Orgánica 4/2000, article 32.5.c, and Real Decreto 1155/2024, article 201.1.c). The period is 24 months for holders who obtained the EU long-term permit after an EU Blue Card, and for their family members. A loss is not automatic: the office must open a procedure, give you at least ten days to respond and decide within six months (article 202). The other grounds are fraud, an expulsion order, acquiring EU long-term residence in another member state, withdrawal of the international protection another state granted you, and a final conviction for the trafficking offences in Código Penal articles 177 bis and 318 bis. The EU long-term permit also ends after six years outside Spain (article 201.2), although the authorities can decide that exceptional reasons justify keeping it. Recovery procedures exist only for specified cases, such as the twelve-month absence, acquiring EU long-term residence elsewhere, a long absence from Spain for the EU permit, or return after a voluntary-return commitment (articles 186 to 189). They are not a remedy after fraud or expulsion.
If you are an EU citizen
EU and EEA citizens, and their non-EU family members, use a different regime, Real Decreto 240/2007. After five years of legal residence in Spain you can ask the immigration office or the police station for a certificado de residencia permanente — permanent residence certificate (article 10). The right is not subject to the resources and insurance conditions that apply to the first five years. Continuity survives temporary absences of up to six months a year in total, or one absence of up to twelve consecutive months for important reasons such as serious illness or study (Directive 2004/38/EC, article 16.3), and longer absences for compulsory military service. The right is lost after more than two consecutive years away from Spain. The EU citizen residency guide covers registration. Interior’s permanent residence page names Form EX-18 for the certificate and the Modelo 790 código 012 payment. Orden PJC/617/2025 lists €12 at heading 4.6 for the registration certificate and the family residence card but does not name the permanent certificate, so check the amount on the form before you pay.
If you are a UK national with withdrawal agreement status
UK nationals who were living in Spain in accordance with EU law before the transition period ended on 31 December 2020, and who kept living here, fall under the Withdrawal Agreement, not under Real Decreto 1155/2024. Some family members can qualify after that date. Article 15 gives the right of permanent residence after five continuous years of legal residence, counting time before and after the end of the transition period, and says it is lost only after an absence of more than five consecutive years. The Withdrawal Agreement TIE carries a €12 fee in Orden PJC/617/2025 (heading 4.6). The Spanish joint instruction of 2020 (BOE-A-2020-7276) sets the Spanish side: the document shows “artículo 50 TUE” as the permit type, temporary documents last five years and permanent documents ten years. Once you reach five years of legal residence you ask the police for a new permanent document, which they issue after checking the duration of your residence. Check the current steps with the police sede before booking. The UK visa options guide covers the wider picture.
Citizenship after residence
The long-term permit is not a precondition for citizenship by residence. Código Civil article 22 asks for residence that is legal, continuous and immediately before the application, for ten years in general. Five years are enough for recognised refugees. Two years are enough for nationals by origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and for Sephardic Jews. One year is enough in the cases listed in article 22.2, such as marriage to a Spaniard for one year without separation. Nationality by residence generally requires DELE A2 or higher, subject to exemptions (for example for nationals of specified Spanish-speaking countries) and accepted alternative evidence, and the CCSE constitutional and cultural exam. Both are run by the Instituto Cervantes (Real Decreto 1004/2015, article 6). The citizenship guide covers the process.
Frequently asked questions
Does the permit card renew by itself every five years?
No. The permit has no end date, but the card is a separate document. You ask for the first renewal of the tarjeta de identidad de extranjero at five years, then every five years until you turn 30 and every ten years after that. File in the two months before the card expires. Filing in that window extends the old card until the office decides, and filing up to three months late also extends it, though a penalty procedure can follow. Missing the window does not end the permit, but for the national permit the office then checks that the conditions behind it still hold (Real Decreto 1155/2024, article 185).
I was away for seven months once. Does the clock restart?
The regulation protects absences of up to six continuous months, as long as the total stays within ten months across the five years. A seven-month absence is longer than that ordinary protection. The regulation then gives you only the specific exceptions: justified force majeure, which the office assesses case by case, and work for registered public-interest organisations on cooperation projects abroad. If you are over a limit, get advice from an immigration lawyer before you file.
My TIE expired a few weeks ago. What happens?
Two situations differ. If you already hold the permit and only the card has expired, the permit is not lost, although the office checks that the conditions behind a national permit still hold (article 185.3). If your temporary authorisation expired and you have not yet applied for the permit, the regulation extends it until the decision when you file within three months after expiry, and a penalty procedure can be opened for the lateness. Beyond three months the text is silent, so treat that as a case for a lawyer.
Do years on a student stay count?
For the EU long-term permit, student and training stays count at 50 percent of their length, provided you hold a residence authorisation when you apply (article 176). The articles for the national permit (182 to 185) give no such credit, and a student stay is legally a stay, not residence, so it does not count towards the national five years.
Do years on different permits add up?
The text asks for five years of legal, continuous residence and does not name a permit type. My reading is that time on a non-lucrative visa residence, a digital nomad residence or a work permit can all count, as long as there was no gap between authorisations.
The five-minute version
- On the ordinary route, nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland qualify after five years of legal, continuous residence. Nothing converts on its own, so you file.
- Absences are protected up to six continuous months each and ten months in total (eighteen in total for work absences).
- File in the two months before your authorisation expires. The office has three months to decide, and silence after the lawful deadline counts as a yes.
- Fees confirmed October 2026: €21.87 for the application and €21.87 for the card.
- Twelve consecutive months outside the EU (24 after a Blue Card) is a ground for ending the permit, after a procedure. The two-year rule belongs to the EU-citizen regime, not to this permit.
- EU citizens use Real Decreto 240/2007. UK Withdrawal Agreement holders use Article 15 of the agreement.
Related guides
- EU Long-Term Residency vs Permanent Residency in Spain
- TIE Renewal in Spain
- Spanish Residency: Every Visa Route
- EU Citizen Residency in Spain
- Spanish Citizenship
General information, not legal advice, current as of 9 October 2026. Primary sources: Real Decreto 1155/2024 (BOE-A-2024-24099), articles 175 to 189 and 201 to 202; Ley Orgánica 4/2000, article 32; Orden PJC/617/2025 (fees); the Ministry of Inclusion information sheets 49 and 50 and form EX-11; Real Decreto 240/2007 and Interior’s permanent residence page; the 2020 joint instruction on Withdrawal Agreement documents (BOE-A-2020-7276); the ministry’s sheet 61 on legalisation and translation; Directive 2004/38/EC; the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, article 15; Código Civil, article 22; Real Decreto 1004/2015, article 6. Fees marked confirmed October 2026 were checked against the current order and the official payment forms.
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