Your Passport Isn’t Stamped Any More: EES, ETIAS and the 90/180 Rule in 2026

This page dates fast, especially the ETIAS section, which has moved again since this was first drafted. Check the official EU sources before relying on any date here, and re-check every three months until ETIAS is actually live.

The EU's Entry/Exit System became fully operational on 10 April 2026. Passport stamping has been replaced by biometric registration — a facial image for everyone, fingerprints for anyone aged 12 or over. Your 90 days in any rolling 180 are now counted automatically. ETIAS is not yet live, and its official target date has itself just been withdrawn — more below — and when it does arrive, the fee is confirmed at €20, not the €7 still widely quoted.

Two things have changed since most of the articles you'll find on this were written, and both matter if you own a home in Spain.

The counting is now automatic. And a great deal of published information about ETIAS is simply wrong — including, as of the last few weeks, its expected launch date.

What Actually Changed In April 2026

The Entry/Exit System — EES — began rolling out on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational on 10 April 2026, confirmed directly by the European Commission.

It replaces the manual passport stamp with an automated biometric record: a facial image for all travellers, and fingerprints for everyone aged 12 and over.

The practical consequence for a second-home owner is simple and slightly uncomfortable. The old reality — a sympathetic border officer, a stamp that didn't get applied, a bit of ambiguity about exactly which days counted — is gone. Your entries and exits are now a database record.

If you were relying on any of that flexibility, stop.

Who Is Exempt?

Holders of long-stay visas and residence permits, along with EU and Schengen nationals — confirmed directly on the European Commission's own EES information page: non-EU nationals who hold a long-stay visa or residence permit issued by a country operating the EES are not registered in the system at all.

That exemption is worth pausing on. If you hold a Spanish residence permit — through the non-lucrative visa, for instance — you are outside EES and outside the 90/180 clock entirely. For anyone who wants to spend more than three months at a time in their Spanish home, that's the whole argument for pursuing residency, and it's stronger now than it was two years ago.

(One footnote that doesn't affect Spain: residence permits issued by Cyprus or Ireland are, unusually, still registered in EES, because those two countries don't operate the system the same way. Not relevant to a Murcia property, but worth knowing if you also spend time in either country.)

Has The 90/180 Rule Itself Changed?

No. Not at all, despite periodic reports suggesting otherwise.

Non-EU nationals, including British citizens, may spend 90 days in any rolling 180 across the Schengen area. It is a rolling window, not a calendar allowance, which is what trips people up — you have to count backwards 180 days from any given date.

There was a serious, specific attempt to change it for British second-home owners in France. A Senate amendment, proposed by Senator Berthet and adopted on 7 November 2023, would have granted UK nationals owning a second home in France an automatic long-stay visa. It made it all the way through Parliament, becoming Article 16 of France's immigration law adopted on 19 December 2023 — and the Conseil Constitutionnel struck it down in its decision n° 2023-863 DC of 25 January 2024, on the specific ground that it had no connection, even indirect, to the bill it had been attached to (a "cavalier législatif" under article 45 of the French Constitution). Spain has not legislated anything comparable, though its tourism bodies have lobbied for relaxation.

So: no change, and no change in prospect that I can see.

What About ETIAS?

Not live — and the date has moved again since this was first written, in a way worth explaining rather than glossing over.

ETIAS — the European Travel Information and Authorisation System — has been delayed repeatedly, originally targeted for 2021. Through most of 2026 the official position was "last quarter of 2026." That position changed in July 2026: multiple outlets reported that eu-LISA (the EU agency building the system) had privately concluded a 2026 launch was no longer realistic, largely because of ongoing technical problems with the EES rollout itself. The official EU ETIAS portal was quietly updated to remove the "last quarter of 2026" wording; as of the most recent check, it states only that the system is "currently not in operation" with no date given. Independent reporting points to 2027, possibly as late as spring 2027, as the more realistic expectation, with a firmer answer expected after eu-LISA's board meets in September 2026 — but none of this is an official confirmed date, and it's reported rather than settled. Don't plan around any specific date until the EU itself publishes one.

The fee, separately from the date, is on much firmer ground: €20, confirmed by the European Commission on 17 July 2025 and stated on the official ETIAS portal itself. It was originally legislated at €7 in 2018, and the €7 figure is still all over the internet and simply wrong now. Under-18s and over-70s are exempt from the fee regardless of when the system actually launches.

The Tax Trap That Sits Next To All This

Worth flagging, because EES makes it sharper.

Spending more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year makes you Spanish tax-resident on your worldwide income. That's a completely separate question from immigration status — you can be perfectly legal on the immigration side and have triggered tax residency without intending to. It's also worth knowing that day-count isn't the only test Spain applies — tax residency can also follow from where your main economic interests are based, or from where your spouse and dependent children live, even in some cases where the 183-day threshold isn't met. Day count is the test most relevant to a second-home owner watching their calendar, but it isn't the only one, and this is genuinely a question for a Spanish tax adviser rather than a rule of thumb.

Spanish courts have confirmed that tax residency turns on evidenced days present rather than presumption. Which cuts both ways, and now there is an official biometric record of exactly how many days that was.

If you're anywhere near the line, take advice.

The Honest Things To Check First

• Count your days properly, on a rolling 180-day basis. Use a calculator rather than a mental estimate.
• Remember it's Schengen-wide. A week in France or Portugal comes out of the same allowance.
• Allow extra time at the border for your first EES registration. Biometric enrolment takes longer than a stamp.
• Don't quote the €7 ETIAS fee at anyone. It's €20.
• Don't quote a specific ETIAS launch date at anyone either, for now. The official position is currently no date at all, pending an EU agency board meeting in September 2026.
• If you want more than 90 days at a stretch, look seriously at residency. It's the only route.
• Watch the 183-day line for tax, separately and carefully, and remember day count isn't Spain's only residency test.

FAQ

Is the EU Entry/Exit System live?

Yes. EES began rolling out on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational on 10 April 2026, confirmed by the European Commission. It replaces passport stamping with biometric registration — a facial image for all travellers and fingerprints for those aged 12 and over.

Has the 90/180 rule changed for British second-home owners?

No. Non-EU nationals may still spend 90 days in any rolling 180 across the Schengen area. A specific French attempt to grant British second-home owners an automatic long-stay visa — Article 16 of France's December 2023 immigration law — was struck down by the Conseil Constitutionnel on 25 January 2024 as an inadmissible legislative rider. Spain has not legislated anything comparable.

Am I exempt from EES if I have a Spanish residence permit?

Yes, confirmed directly by the European Commission. Holders of long-stay visas and residence permits are exempt from EES and from the 90-day limit, along with EU and Schengen nationals.

When does ETIAS start and how much does it cost?

Not confirmed. The official "last quarter of 2026" target was withdrawn from the EU's own ETIAS portal in mid-2026 following reports that a 2026 launch was no longer realistic; 2027 is the more commonly reported expectation now, with an official update expected after an EU agency board meeting in September 2026. The fee is confirmed at €20 — not the €7 originally legislated and still widely quoted — regardless of when the system actually launches. Under-18s and over-70s are exempt from the fee.

Does time in Spain affect my tax residency?

Yes, and it is separate from immigration rules. More than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year makes you Spanish tax-resident on worldwide income, though Spain also applies other tests (centre of economic interests, family location) that can apply even below that threshold. EES now creates an official record of days present.

If you're trying to work out how much time you can realistically spend at a Murcia property, or whether residency makes sense for you, it's worth a conversation before you buy rather than after. Get in touch.