Procedure · Autorización de residencia de larga duración-UE
EU long-term residence in Spain (residencia de larga duración-UE)
The status that lets you move to another member state. Study years count at half, protection years count in full, and it asks for resources and insurance that the national version does not.
Checked at source ·
- Official fee
- Processing fee for the authorisation
- Official name
- Autorización de residencia de larga duración-UE
- Forms
- —
- Steps
- 11
- Documents required
- 6
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado — Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado). Checked .
Who needs one
Non-EU nationals with five years of legal residence who want the European status rather than the Spanish one, and holders of another member state's EU long-term residence who want to move to Spain.
Step by step
What it adds over the national status
Both authorise you to reside and work in Spain indefinitely on the same terms as a Spaniard. This one also carries the status under the European long-term residents directive, and with it the possibility of moving to another member state. That is the whole reason to prefer it, and the reason it asks more of you.
The five years, and how absences are counted
Five years of legal and continuous residence in Spain before the application. Continuity survives absences of up to six months at a time, provided they total no more than ten months across the five years, unless the departures were irregular. Where the absences were for work reasons the total allowance rises to eighteen months, with the same six-month cap on each.
Student years count at half
Time spent on a stay authorisation for studies, pupil mobility, voluntary service or training activities counts towards the five years at 50% of its total duration — provided that at the moment of applying you are in a residence situation in Spain. Four years of a degree is two years of this clock, not four and not nothing. It is the single most useful sentence in the article and it is why people who assume their student years were wasted are often closer than they think.
If you have international protection, the clock starts at your application
For those recognised as beneficiaries of international protection in Spain, 100% of the period from the date the protection application was filed until the date the residence and work authorisation was granted is counted. Given how long protection files take, that frequently moves the qualifying date forward by years. The same full counting applies to EU Blue Card holders.
The Blue Card route into this status
Holders of an EU Blue Card issued by another member state who have exercised their mobility rights can obtain it on two cumulative conditions. First, five years of legal and uninterrupted residence in the European Union as the holder of a Blue Card, a national highly qualified permit, a research authorisation, a studies or vocational training authorisation, or as a beneficiary of international protection in the member states — with study or training periods again counting at 50%, and absences from the Union of up to twelve continuous months not breaking continuity, provided they total no more than eighteen months. Second, two years of legal and uninterrupted residence in Spain as a Blue Card holder immediately before applying.
Two requirements the national status does not ask for
Fixed and regular resources sufficient for your own support and, where applicable, your family's — assessed on the terms and amounts this Regulation sets for family reunification, and which may come from your own means or from employed or professional activity. And health insurance. If you meet the five years but not these, the national long-term residence is the status that fits.
Apply in the two months before your permit expires
From inside Spain, to the Immigration Office of the province where you live. Filing in that window extends your current permit until the decision, and so does filing within the three months after it expired, though that opens a penalty procedure. Neither applies if you already hold a valid residence permit and already meet the requirements — in that case you are not against a deadline at all. From outside Spain, the application is made in person at the consulate for where you live, which forwards it to the Immigration Office for the province where you will settle.
Where: Oficina de Extranjería of your province, or the Spanish consulate where you reside
Moving to Spain with another state's EU long-term residence
If another member state has granted you EU long-term residence, you can apply to reside in Spain with no visa required. The application can be filed before you enter Spain and, at the latest, within three months of entering. It goes to the Immigration Office of the province where you will live or begin your work, professional or educational activity — filed either at the Spanish consulate for your previous place of residence in the Union, or directly at that Immigration Office.
What you file depends on why you are coming
Coming without working: documentation on the economic means required to reside in Spain without carrying out gainful activities, and proof of health insurance. Coming to work: the employment documentation required according to whether it will be employed or self-employed work, or proof that an exemption from the work permit applies. And one thing does not apply at all in this route — the requirement that the national employment situation permits the hire.
Two months to decide, and here silence refuses
The competent body decides and notifies within a maximum of two months. If that passes, the application is taken to have been refused. That is the opposite of the rule on national long-term residence, where silence grants — so the two statuses behave differently on the same question and it is worth being certain which one you filed.
Three months to enter, and when it starts
Once granted, you must enter Spain within a maximum of three months from the notification of the decision, if you are not already here. The authorisation takes effect from your entry within that period — or from the date the decision was notified, if you were already in Spain.
Documents you need
Complete copy of a valid passport, travel document or cédula de inscripción
Current at the time of the application.
Proof of fixed and regular resources
Sufficient for your support and your family's, on the terms and amounts set for family reunification. They may come from your own means or from employed or professional activity.
Proof of health insurance
Required for this status, unlike for the national one.
Proof of the processing fee
The stamped form evidencing payment.
For the Blue Card route: proof of previous residence
Documenting the periods held in another member state as a Blue Card holder, on a national highly qualified permit, a research authorisation, a studies or vocational training authorisation, or as a beneficiary of international protection.
For moving here: proof of your status in the other state
Documentation evidencing that you hold EU long-term residence granted by another member state.
Common questions
What is the difference between EU and national long-term residence?
Both let you live and work in Spain indefinitely on the same terms as a Spaniard. The EU one also carries the status under the European long-term residents directive, which allows you to move to another member state — and for that it additionally requires fixed and regular resources and health insurance.
Do my years as a student count?
At half. Time on a stay authorisation for studies, pupil mobility, voluntary service or training activities counts at 50% of its total duration, provided you are in a residence situation in Spain when you apply. Four years of study is two years towards the five.
I have refugee status. When do my five years start?
The period from the date you filed your international protection application until the date your residence and work authorisation was granted counts in full. That often brings the qualifying date forward considerably.
How much time abroad is allowed?
Absences of up to six months at a time, totalling no more than ten months across the five years — eighteen months where the absences were for work reasons. Departures made irregularly do not benefit from this.
I have EU long-term residence from another country. Do I need a visa for Spain?
No. You can apply to reside in Spain with no visa, either before entering or within three months of entry, at the Spanish consulate for your previous place of residence in the Union or directly at the Immigration Office of the province where you will live.
Will I need a job offer that passes the labour-market test?
Not on this route. Where you come to work, the requirement that the national employment situation permits the hire does not apply. You still file the employment documentation appropriate to employed or self-employed work.
What happens if nobody answers me?
For moving to Spain with another state's status, two months of silence means the application has been refused. Note this is the opposite of national long-term residence, where silence grants — the two behave differently and it matters which one you filed.
When does the permit start counting?
From your entry into Spain, which must happen within three months of the decision being notified — or from the date of notification if you were already in Spain.
Which office, in your province
Not every counter handles every procedure, and the assignment differs from province to province — in Alicante the residence card is issued at one address and the NIE at another. These are the provinces whose offices list this procedure themselves; each page gives their addresses, phone numbers and opening hours.
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from one of these. We do not cite other guides, because a copy gives us no way to notice when the original changes.
- Real Decreto 1155/2024, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de la Ley Orgánica 4/2000 (texto consolidado)Boletín Oficial del Estado
- Cita previa de extranjeríaMinisterio de Política Territorial y Función Pública
This is information, not advice
Your own case depends on your nationality, your current status and your history with the administration — none of which a web page can see. Confirm anything that matters with the responsible authority or a qualified professional before you act on it.