Spain will no longer revoke residence permits of foreigners who have been absent from the country for more than six months

The Spanish authorities have announced that foreigners holding temporary residence permits in the country will no longer be subject to the same strict rules as before. Now the permit will not be revoked even if they spend more than six months outside the country.

This is reported by SchengenVisaInfo.com. The relevant decision was made on April 20 by the Supreme Court of Spain.

However, the authorities emphasized that despite this decision, they will still be able to restore their previous rules if necessary.

According to the previous rules, the authorities had the power to revoke the residence permits of those who did not comply with the six-month rule.

On the other hand, it was emphasized that now the temporary residence status can be terminated only through a court proceeding, when the authorities argue that a certain person is no longer eligible for the document, and not because of the length of absence in Spain.

A temporary residence permit is valid for five years, and after that, a foreigner can apply for a long-term residence permit.

However, potential confusion may arise for foreigners seeking to change their temporary residence permit to permanent residence status after five years of residence in the country.

The current rule, which does not allow a foreigner to stay outside the country for more than ten months in a five-year period before applying for permanent residence, continues to apply.

This means that all foreigners who stay outside of Spain for more than six months will be able to renew their residence permit, but will not necessarily be able to renew their permanent residence permit, as their stay outside the country will exceed ten months in a five-year period.