Maximum stay : 183 days ?

As fa as I know, you will be taxed as Spain resident.

They check a lot of thinks like movments on any spanish credit/debit card. They check electricity consumption of houses ... but as you have a van :-)

I would suggest that after the 182 days, you DON'T use any spanish card.

If you're deemed as a resident (having been there for over 183 days), then you should check where you stand with regard to things like registration, taxes and health insurance.

@gilbertnicolet  I very much doubt if Spain has the resources to track every single EU citizen that enters the country by land.  Although in theory they could track card movements, most tourists won't have them, and even then it's pretty unlikely.

Thousands of EU citizens live permanently "under the radar" in Spain, without ever registering as resident or paying taxes (not that I condone this behaviour!).

@Neil St It's something I read recently. It seems Spain did a small computation of how much they loose with these "residents" and now push hard on the controls.

It seems the most used control is how much electricity the houses use and geolocation of mobile spanish phones numbers.

@rangfar

If I were you, I wouldn't worry too much :

I suppose you have credit cards issued by your home country (on top of Spanish ones)

In that case, stop using your Spanish cards for the periods exceeding the 182 (not 183!) days you'll spend in Spain.

Same for your mobile phone...

Change your number for a throwaway SIM (on someone else's name) for that period :

No need to change anything for WhatsApp as long as your phone is connected to the internet (through your new SIM)

Just my two cents...

Good luck!

you might not have a problem because although you may have spent more than 183 days in the last year I believe the residency rules on number of days relate to calendar years .  So provided you have control of when you start your trip to Spain next Winter you should still be able to keep your number of days below.  I believe this is in contrast to the rules for UK residents who cannot spend more than 90 days in a rolling 180 day period.

@Neil St

how do EU or others manage with the European health insurance if they don't have residency in any country while playing with the 183 days 😳?

@lucysurf I have an international insurance card from the French CPAM health insurance system, with which I can use the public health system in European countries without extra costs. But I do not know if they verify the number of days.

I usually imitate the migratory birds and drive to Spain in October (before there is snow on the Pyrenees) and go back to France in April. But this year I am really dragging myself back by the scruff of the neck, so perhaps it is time to think about leaving France and emigrating to my beloved Andalusia! :-)

Andalusia sounds 👍 😀.  So the card of the public system you have  I am assuming is the same as the Italian public  system which you receive in the EU country where you reside (fiscal residence) correct? I was wondering about those “free spirits” that don't have residency in either country and “float”…… 😉

Had a problem due to health of a friend and they said ok you can stay a bit longer. Spoke to the mayors council office, not sure what the name is .

If you live in a van and don't own property in Spain, it is very unlikely they will find out, unless they get information from credit card use (for which you would have to own a spanish bank account), or you are registering in campings or whatever.

In any case, just as a side note, the 186 day rule is not the only criteria, there are others which people usually forget about, such as origin of income and vital interests such as familiy.

@rangfar I think you're getting confused with 1) tax residency and 2) amount of time you can spend in Spain.

1) If you spend 183 or more in a single calendar year (remember, the Spanish tax year is 01 Jan-1 Dec), you become a tax resident and have to pay tax to Spain on ALL your income from any source anywhere in the world IN THAT YEAR, even if you are already paying tax at source, eg UK income. Spain will count all the days because your passport is scanned at border control every time you enter or leave the country. They will chase you for this even after you leave the country, due to the double tax agreement between Spain and UK.

2) As an EU citizen you are allowed to stay for up to 90 days in every 180 (rolling period). If you wish to stay for longer you have to register on the Registry of Extranjeros (Foreigner's Register) and get your NIE [a very simple process] OR apply for Residencia [slighty more complicated].

If you are in a van, it's possible to stay under the radar, but not at all adviseable. Health insurance/care will be a big problem for you - and they will still chase you or tax after you leave and HMRC will work with them.

@beckfordburger

That's a great point about differentiating between tax residence period, and visa-free period.

And especially relevant for Brits and other non-EU citizens who might be entitled to visa-free travel by virtue of their passport and/or residence permit in another EU country. However, @rangfar is an EU citizen (French I think), so this visa-free restriction doesn't apply. You're correct that EU citizens should do the EU Citizen Registration step after 90 days, but many don't bother, and I don't think there's any penalty for not doing so. And certainly there's no problem if they stay longer than 90 days.

You're also quite right about passport control systems in airport immigration. But, in this case, @rangfar is driving rather than flying. As both France and Spain are Schengen zone countries, there's no border control and hence no passport scanning/stamping. You're quite right that a Brit flying (or driving) from the UK would pass through border control.

For a long stay, you're correct that access to health care is an important issue. I'd imagine a travel insurance might be a good option (although they do typically have maximum trip limits which are usually in the 30-90 days range). An EU citizen should have an EHIC from their own country, which would give them access to the Spanish state healthcare system. Brits are OK too, if they get their GHIC.

You're quite right that, officially, one can be deemed to have acquired Spanish tax residence after 183 days of physical presence. And that, as a result, one might then have income tax obligations arising. I totally agree with you that it's a bit "naughty" to simply ignore this, and we probably should not encourage this behaviour. On the other hand, as a "van lifer", @rangfar is very much under the radar (no passport scanning, no immigration/NIE application, no rental contract, no utility bills, no bank account, no padron) so it seems very unlikely that the Spanish tax authorities even know of his existence, let alone how much time he spends in Spain.

Oops, sticky key - Spanish Tax Year is 01 Jan- 31 Dec

@gwynj  Thanks for the confirmations, clarifications and corrections. All very useful!

@gwynj Hi again, I wonder if you could enlighten me on a particular point: Spanish Residencia.

I am an Irish citizen and therefore EU citizen. I registered with the Oficina de Extranjeros in Alicante last year and have my NIE. I have a Spanish bank account and long-term rental contract (1yr+) and have signed on the Padrón.

My question is: do I ever NEED to get Residencia?

@beckfordburger

The only thing EU citizens, like yourself (lucky you), are supposed to do is the "EU Citizen Registration". It sounds like you already did this, and you should have a little paper certificate (it says "Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión Europea" and has your NIE on it), rather than a biometric ID card.

You are now a legal resident of Spain. And your certificate is, effectively, your "residencia". Congratulations! :-)

Perhaps you've seen the biometric ID cards that some folks have (the TIE or Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero) and you think of this as the "residencia" (many do). However, those (I believe) are only for non-EU citizens. Personally, I think it's a bit confusing, but that's what Spain does. Other EU countries (e.g. Bulgaria, where I'm also a resident) issue similar plastic biometric ID cards to both EU citizens and non-EU citizens.

From the date of issue of your certificate the clock is now counting down: in 5 years, you will be entitled to permanent residence in Spain.

Registration certificate, NIE, padron certificate, bank account, rental contract... you've pretty much got the complete set. :-) If you decide to buy a nice villa on the beach, rather than rent, you've got your NIE already, so that would be no problem. Maybe you could consider registering for social security, so that you can make regular contributions and qualify for Spanish state healthcare and/or Spanish pension?

If you're already retired (with a state pension from UK or Ireland) then the process is different: you get them to issue an S1 form, and this will entitle you to free Spanish healthcare (there's a bit of bureaucracy involved, so you'll need to figure this bit out). If you're doing some freelance work, then you might also consider registering as an autonomo (self-employed) so you can pay the appropriate income tax and social contributions on your earnings.