Friend holds an Irish passport, is on the 5 year residence card in Spain, and has completed nearly 4 years.

To my understanding in order to apply for Permanent Residence he needs to have completed 5 years residence in Spain, with less than 10 months outside within the last 5 years.

• So firstly, do days in other EU states count at all? (I suspect not!).
• Secondly, he's done several 2-3 day trips to Portugal by bus. As his passport is not scanned on entry/exit, I assume that officially it looks like he is still in Spain?
• I've read that if he can't meet this residence requirement at the 5 year mark, he can get anther 2 years temp residence card? If thats so, is he able to get another after another 2 years, or is this limited to just the once?
• If he was to move to Portugal for a few months, I guess he'd have to register as a resident, so then what happens to his Spanish residency if he's got his Perm Residency by then?
• Finally (for now!) is there any way of obtaining a copy of the record of his entries/exits to Spain? I know in Australia Immigration will provide such a list to help with residency calculations, so does anyone know if Spain can do something similar? I'm trawling back through flight bookings etc but I know there are some missing.

Thanks muchly for all replies, any information is welcome as I'm going round in circles on Google

As your questions were clear … I’ve input them into a Pro version of ChatGPT …. and here is the answer it gave me in 5 seconds ….. How accurate it is I can’t vouch for

1. Do days in other EU states count toward Spanish residency?

No, days spent in other EU countries do not count toward the 5-year legal residence required for permanent residency in Spain.

• The requirement is 5 years of continuous legal residence in Spain.
• Trips to other EU countries are considered time outside Spain, even though there are no border checks.
• However, short absences (under 6 months each, and under 10 months total over 5 years) are allowed and won’t break continuity.

2. Do short trips to Portugal by bus count as absence, if the passport isn’t scanned?

Technically, yes, even if the passport isn’t stamped.

• Absences are not based on passport stamps but on actual presence.
• If Spain were to request proof of presence (for example, in a future permanent residency application), your friend may need to account for his time abroad, even if it’s undocumented.
• That said, a few 2–3 day trips are very unlikely to be an issue, especially if they’re infrequent and he can show continuous ties (rent, work, banking in Spain, etc.).

3. Can he renew his temporary residency if he doesn’t meet the 5-year requirement?

Yes.

• If he can’t yet meet the 5-year residency threshold, he can apply for a renewal of his temporary residence card.
• These are generally issued in 2-year increments after the initial 5-year card (even if called “temporary”).
• There’s no strict limit on how many 2-year cards you can get, though the idea is usually to progress to permanent residency once eligible.

4. If he moves to Portugal after getting Spanish permanent residency, what happens?

• If he gets permanent residency in Spain (i.e., long-term EU residence), he can reside in another EU country, but he must register there according to local laws.
• If he remains outside of Spain for more than 6 consecutive months or 12 total months in 5 years, Spain can revoke his permanent status.
• There is a version of EU long-term residence (residencia de larga duración-UE) that allows mobility across EU countries, but it’s a specific application, not the default permanent card.

5. Can he get a record of his entries/exits to Spain?

Spain doesn’t typically provide personal entry/exit records to individuals because:

• Schengen countries don’t stamp passports for internal EU travel.
• Spain does not have a centralized, individual-entry tracking system like Australia or the US for EU citizens.

However:

• He could request a “certificado de residencia” history from the police extranjería office.
• He can also submit a “derecho de acceso” (access rights request) under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to Spain’s Ministerio del Interior, which may provide whatever data is held.
• Best to support any gaps with bank statements, rent contracts, medical appointments, etc.

Good one!!

Why the ROFL ?

I could put them into google myself and get a bunch of AI garbage, but I thought that I'd stick to tried and trusted methods and see if in this usually helpful corner of BE someone real could have a punt at answering sensibly.

Silly me, shan't try that again.

Is it AI garbage ? It seems quite factual to me (the parts I know), if it’s garbage tell me what is garbage ? I’d genuinely like to know. You said you’d used Google already !

Exactly. I spent several hours reading Google, getting various contradictory sources out-of-date info etc. I suspect this AI rubbish could be the same and I would prefer the tried and trusted method of speaking to people with experience. Its garbage because its unverified AI.

In the past, I have asked in this forum about Spanish information and how to find the answer when I don't speak the language, and have had no end of helpful replies from people who have been there, seen it, done it.
Seems times have changed in here. Maybe BE has had its day and we should all just rely on AI.

Firstly what I did was with good intent ! I think a lot of people assume AI constructed information is rubbish as you have but that’s not the case and if you take the time to read the break down of answers a lot if it is logical and doesn’t really need any further answer or reference. The answers are not made up just because they are AI driven.

Regular Google searches are a completely different animal and not AI.

Questions on forums often get multiple answers and end up with posters arguing about who’s right and wrong, often none of which helps the OP and perhaps often no more helpful than an AI driven answer.

I’m sure helpful members with experience will come along soon and let us know where the AI derived garbage answers are wrong 😉

As if AI could replace Fred and the rest!

In reply to the post I would have thought that the odd day out of the country makes no difference whatsoever and living here and paying taxes is quite sufficient for gaining permanent residency it certainly was for me and I am sure I did a few UK trips in my first 5 years.

It is something that is coming up for both me and wife all be it we are UK under withdrawal agreement. It isn't something I have personal knowledge of but pre Brexit I know a few people who renewed their temp residency to permanent with no difficulty. I know it says you have to have resided permanently for 5 years but my understanding you can leave for 6 months before they consider you non resident thats one stay outside of 6 months . You can also leave for short holiday breaks away . To be honest I would guess in reality there is little chance of them knowing if you pop back to UK for a holiday or to Portugal or France for a short holiday/ trip. The people I know that renewed from temporary to permanent had no issues doing that and we're not grilled about how long they had spent outside of Spain. I guess if for some reason something comes to light making them suspicious that they have not been actually living in Spain then they may question that and it would be for applicant to provide required evidence of trips etc and time residing/living in Spain. I will have better knowledge at the end of the year when I renew mine. I found this link (I'm sure there are others ) with some formation .
https://www.lexidy.com/blog/spain-permanent-residency/

Something is wrong here, the 6 month and 10 month restrictions apply to non EU citizens here on NLV's.

As an EU citizen your friend benefits from freedom of movement and has no need of a 'residence card', whatever it is that term in fact refers to?

I think you’ll find The continuous 5 year aspect applies to an EU citizen seeking permanent Spanish residency (and the benefits that it gives you) rather than temporary residency that an EU citizen can also take. (And no that’s not a garbage AI answer 😉)

No such thing as temporary resident - you either qualify and you are or not a resident.

Doesnt require a TIE but if living full time in Spain requires the EU green card which we commonly referred to as residencia , that comes in temporary and permanent versions.

exactly the old green Certificado de Registro de Ciudadano de la Unión" (EU Registration Certificate) . Pre brexit it was often referred to as residencia which technically it wasnt. My understanding of OPs post was that they were referring to that .