Nigerian and other non-EU immigrants in Spain are no longer required to stay in the country for a mandatory period 6 months minimum every year or lose their resident permit.
This has been the law whereby immigrants with temporary resident permit are not allowed to stay outside of Spain for more than 6 months in year.
Anyone who travels out of Spain and stays for more than 6 months was subject to losing his/her resident permit.
This strict immigration rule has now been changed by the Spanish authorities, permitting holders of temporary resident permit to travel out of Spain and stay much longer than 6 months in a given one year period.
The policy review was done following a June 20 decision of the country’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Spain.
According to the court decision the period spent outside of Spain within a particular year cannot be a lawful basis for revoking a temporary resident permit. It therefore declared such policy illegal and inconsistent with the law.
The authorities have therefore aligned in compliance with the Supreme Court decision but have also stated that the decision does not strip the government the power to cancel temporary resident permits.
By implication therefore, anyone who they still consider liable to lose already issues temporary resident can still lose it in accordance with other considerations.
This new policy therefore review leaves more doubt about the real intention of the Spanish immigration authorities.
For instance, there is still a standing immigration rule that mandates holders of temporary resident permit not to spend more than 10 months cumulatively within 5 years of issue.
If they do spend more than such period outside the territory of Spain, then their subsequent application for permanent resident permit will be rejected.
Under Spanish immigration law, immigrants are eligible to apply to convert temporary resident permit to permanent one after 5 years of issue.
However, other requirements must be met in full before their application is granted.
It is not exactly clear how this decision will be applied to Nigerians and non-EU immigrants in practice going forward. This is because the decision makes it possible for immigrants who spend more than 6 months outside Spain in any given year to still retain their permit.
However, it does not settle or fully explain what happens when the immigration authorities choose to rely on the 10months rule, which requires that immigrant must not have spent more than 10months cumulatively within 5years.
This leaves the immigration officials the discretion to deny application for permanent resident permit to anyone who spends more than 6 months in a year but relying on the 10months rule instead.
