Spain · Visits and the 90-day rule
A British passport lets you spend up to 90 days in any 180-day period in Spain without a visa, and days in other Schengen countries come out of the same 90. The window rolls: on each day of your stay, look back 180 days, and the total there must be 90 or fewer. Since 10 April 2026 the EU's Entry/Exit System has logged every crossing, so overstays are spotted automatically.
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See what fits →The Schengen Borders Code measures the 90 days by looking at the 180-day period before each day of stay. There is no fixed start date and no reset: each day the oldest day drops out and a new one comes in, so days spent in Spain in October can still count in March.
It is one count for all 29 countries using EES, including Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and Norway. Cyprus and Ireland still stamp passports by hand and sit outside it, and days at home in the UK do not count.
Days in Spain as a resident, with a residence permit or a long-stay visa, are not part of the 90.
Enter each stay in the Schengen area (arrival and departure dates). Both days count. The counter checks every rolling 180-day window, and tells you the most days used in any one window and how many are left on a date you choose. It is arithmetic only; the border system is the authority.
Part of a day counts as a whole day. Spain's immigration regulation makes the date you enter the first day of your stay and the date you leave the last, so a flight landing at 11pm and one leaving at 6am each use a full day. A stay from one Monday to the next is eight days, not seven.
These examples assume no days in the Schengen area in the 180 days before 1 November 2026.
| Plan | Days used | Result |
|---|---|---|
| One trip, 1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027 | 92 | Two days over. The last legal day to leave is 29 January 2027. |
| Two trips: 1 November to 15 December 2026, then 15 February to 31 March 2027 | 45 + 45 = 90 | Legal, with no day to spare. The earliest return is 30 April 2027, and that stay must end by 13 June as the older days drop out. |
| Two trips: 1 November to 31 December 2026, then 1 February to 31 March 2027 | 61 + 59 = 120 | The second trip must end by 1 March 2027. Staying to 31 March would be a 30-day overstay. |
Checked day by day: for each day of a trip, the Schengen days in the 180 days ending that day, with arrival and departure days included.
Use the counter below to check your own dates.
The Entry/Exit System began a phased start on 12 October 2025 and has run in full since 10 April 2026, replacing passport stamps. It records your passport details, the date and place of each entry and exit, a facial image, fingerprints and any refusal of entry. It is free.
At your first crossing an officer takes your photo and fingerprints; some borders offer kiosks or an app to start this. Children aged 11 or under are photographed but not fingerprinted. Later crossings only check your face or fingerprints against the record, and refusing biometrics means refusal of entry.
At Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone and Eurostar at St Pancras the checks happen before you leave the UK. Spanish border staff can still ask for a return ticket, travel insurance, enough money for the stay and, if you stay in your own home, proof of the address.
EES keeps records for three years. Border officers must tell you your remaining days on request, and so will the EU's online checker, though it ignores stays that began before 10 April 2026. UK travel advice still tells e-gate users to get a stamp, although the EU says stamps have ended; if your record looks wrong, raise it with border officials and bring evidence.
EES flags an overstay automatically and adds you to a list that border, immigration and visa staff can see. The EU says the consequences depend on national law and may include removal, fines, detention or a bar on returning.
Sources differ on the ban. UK travel advice warns of a Schengen entry ban of up to three years. Spain's immigration law treats an irregular stay as a serious administrative infringement, punished by a fine of €501 to €10,000 or, instead, by expulsion with an entry ban that normally cannot exceed five years.
If illness or another unforeseeable event kept you in Spain, credible evidence such as hospital records can get the record corrected. UK travel advice says extensions for exceptional reasons are requested from Spain's immigration offices (Extranjería).
ETIAS is a separate EU travel authorisation for visitors who need no visa, including British citizens. On 28 September 2026 the official ETIAS website said it was not in operation or taking applications, and that the EU would announce the start date several months ahead. An EU notice of 15 April 2026 said UK nationals would need it from the last quarter of 2026; the site gave no start date.
Once running, it will cost €20, must be valid for your whole stay and will be checked before you board. It does not change the 90-in-180 limit.
Anything beyond 90 days in 180 needs residence, which for retirees usually means the Spain non-lucrative visa, applied for from the UK before you go. British residents of Spain show their TIE at the border, and UK travel advice says long-term residents of a Schengen country are exempt from EES.
Tax is a separate count. Spain treats you as tax resident in any calendar year with more than 183 days there, and maximum stays under the 90/180 rule can pass that: 1 January to 31 March, 30 June to 27 September and 27 to 31 December 2027 total 185 days.
For healthcare, pensions and the move itself, see retiring to Spain from the UK and the moving to Spain checklist. Buyers can start with how to get an NIE number and buying property in Spain as a UK citizen.
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Talk to us about Spain →Yes. The 90 days in any 180 are counted once for the whole Schengen area, so a week in France or Portugal uses the same allowance as a week in Spain, and EES adds up crossings in all 29 participating countries. Days in Ireland, Cyprus or the UK do not count.
No. Nothing resets the count. On every day you are in the Schengen area, the days you spent there in the previous 180 days are added up and must not exceed 90. A trip home helps only because older days drop out of the window, one at a time.
EES records it automatically. In Spain an irregular stay can bring a fine of €501 to €10,000, or expulsion with a ban on returning that normally cannot exceed five years; UK travel advice mentions Schengen bans of up to three years. Evidence of a hospital stay or similar can get the record corrected.
Not yet. On 28 September 2026 the official ETIAS website said the system was not operating and was not accepting applications. The EU has said it will give several months' notice of the start date, and in April 2026 it said UK nationals would need ETIAS from the last quarter of 2026. The fee will be €20.
Yes. The European Commission publishes a short-stay calculator, and the EU's Travel Europe site has an EES checker that shows the days you have left. Border officers must also tell you on request. The EES checker ignores stays that began before 10 April 2026, so add those days yourself or use the counter on this page.
Last checked 2026-09-28. Rules and rates change; this is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm your own position with an independent Spanish lawyer or tax adviser before you act.