Legally speaking – “Calendar year” does not count

Legal Advice that could interest everyone in Spain. This weeks question is:

Q.  Last year you wrote that the tourist stay in Spain was 183 days in a calendar year, which gave rise to the peculiarity that a person could stay in Spain for the last six months of a year and the first six months of the following year.  Can you confirm this? We would like to travel to Spain in our motorhome and stay through October, November and December. We would then fly home 28 December and return early in January to stay through January, February and March, returning to Dover on 30 March 2021.

E.M. (by email)

A. The “calendar year” rule never existed. It was a common misconception and we were in error to report it.

Further investigation revealed the mistake and we have made this clear in a series of articles this year.  Forget years and months.

The rule is: 90 days in a 180-day period.  You can divide your 90 days as you wish. At the end of the 180-day period, you must leave Spain for at least 90 days.

So I am afraid that your plan will not work.

Send your questions for David Searl through lawyers Ubeda-Retana and Associates in Fuengirola at Ask@lawtaxspain.com, or call 952667090