Moving to Mallorca from the UK

There is no shortage of writing about what life on Mallorca feels like, most of it by people who live here and some of it very good.

This page does not compete with that. It covers the part that is harder to find and easier to get wrong: the administrative machinery of moving from the UK to Spain — what you are allowed to do, what you have to arrange, and in what order. The island in February you can read about elsewhere. The healthcare, the licence and the day count you should read about before you commit to either the move or the house.

The ninety-day limit

Since Brexit, British citizens are third-country nationals in the Schengen area. Without a residence permit, you may stay ninety days in any rolling one-hundred-and-eighty-day period.

It is a rolling window, not an annual allowance, and it counts across Schengen as a whole rather than Spain alone.

This is the single most consequential change for British second-home owners, and it is where the disappointment usually lands. A house bought for long summers and long autumns is a house you can legally occupy for three months at a time. Owning it does not extend the limit, and neither does an NIE.

How the count actually works

On any given day, look back 180 days and add up every day spent anywhere in Schengen. The total must not exceed 90.

Three practical consequences. Leaving and coming back does not reset the clock. Days in France, Italy or the Netherlands consume the same allowance as days in Mallorca. And arrival and departure days each count as whole days, so a run of long weekends spends the allowance faster than the arithmetic suggests.

Entry and exit are recorded electronically. Overstaying is not a paperwork slip — it can carry an entry ban, and it can surface at a border long afterwards.

Staying longer means a permit

If you want more than ninety days, you need a residence route. Buying property is no longer one of them — Spain closed the investor route in 2025.

What remains turns on your circumstances. The non-lucrative visa suits people who can support themselves without working in Spain, typically on pensions or passive income, and requires evidence of means against an annually revised income measure plus private health cover without co-payments. It does not permit work of any kind, including remote work for a UK employer — the condition applicants most often misread.

The digital nomad visa covers remote work for employers or clients outside Spain, under its own income and contract conditions.

Applications are generally made from the UK before you move, not after you arrive. That sequencing catches people out, and it is a reason to speak to an immigration lawyer early — earlier than you would think, and certainly before you exchange on a house whose purpose depends on the answer.

Healthcare

The question that matters most and gets the least attention in relocation writing.

A GHIC or EHIC covers temporary visits, not residence. Once you live here it does not apply, and relying on it is the most common and most serious gap.

If you receive a UK state pension, you can generally apply for an S1, which registers you into the Spanish public system with the UK meeting the cost. It is applied for through the relevant UK authority and then registered with the Spanish social security office. It also covers dependants in defined circumstances. This is the route most retired movers take and it is worth starting before you go.

If you work in Spain, you pay into Spanish social security and are covered through it.

If you are neither — an early retiree below state pension age, for instance — you need private cover, and the non-lucrative visa requires it regardless.

There is also the convenio especial, a paid scheme allowing residents without other entitlement to buy into the public system after a qualifying period of registration. Availability and conditions are regional.

Practically: the island’s main hospitals are in Palma. If you are considering a village in the Tramuntana or the northeast, know the drive to the nearest emergency department before you need it, not after.

Your driving licence

A UK licence is fine as a visitor. Once you are resident, it is not indefinitely.

An agreement between the UK and Spain provides for exchange of a UK licence for a Spanish one without retaking the test, subject to conditions and to a window measured from when you become resident. The arrangements here have changed more than once since Brexit, and the deadlines are the part that bites.

Check the current position on GOV.UK before you move and start the exchange early. The alternative — sitting the Spanish theory and practical test in Spanish — is a great deal more work than a form.

Pets and possessions

Pets travelling from the UK need an Animal Health Certificate for each journey, issued by a vet within a short window before travel, unless and until you obtain an EU pet passport once resident here. Rabies vaccination timing is the constraint that catches people; start months ahead, not weeks.

Household goods brought on a permanent move may qualify for relief from import duty and VAT under transfer-of-residence rules, subject to conditions on how long you have owned the items and when they arrive relative to your registration. Removal firms that handle UK–Spain moves routinely know the paperwork; confirm before booking that yours does.

A car brought permanently must be re-registered on Spanish plates within a defined period, which involves a technical inspection and a registration tax whose rate depends on emissions. For an older vehicle it is often cheaper to sell in the UK and buy here.

Pensions and money

The UK state pension is paid into a Spanish account and, under the social security agreement with Spain, continues to be uprated annually — unlike in some other countries. You will be asked to confirm you are alive from time to time; ignoring that letter stops the payment.

Where your pension is taxed is decided by the double taxation treaty, and it treats state, occupational and government-service pensions differently. Anyone with more than one source needs the position modelled rather than assumed, before the move rather than after.

Keep a UK account open. Some UK providers restrict accounts held by non-residents, so ask before you tell them you have gone.

Once you are here

Two registrations matter.

The padrón is your registration with the town hall of the municipality where you live. It is what connects you to local services, is required for school enrolment and a range of administrative processes, and is the basis on which municipalities receive funding — so councils tend to be helpful about it.

The TIE is the physical residence card issued once your permit is granted. It is a different document from the NIE certificate, which every buyer needs and which confers no residence rights.

Tax residency is not the same as residency

Spend more than 183 days in Spain in a calendar year and you will generally be treated as tax resident, with worldwide income falling into the Spanish system.

That threshold is independent of your immigration status. It is possible to be tax resident without intending to be, and the consequences are significant enough that anyone approaching the line should take advice in both countries before crossing it rather than after.

Two points that are regularly missed. Spanish residence applies to the whole calendar year or not at all — there is no split-year treatment of the kind UK taxpayers know — which makes the timing of the move a lever worth using. And residence brings reporting obligations for assets held outside Spain, whether or not tax is ultimately due on them.

Choosing where

Mallorca is small enough to drive across in ninety minutes and varied enough that the choice genuinely matters.

Palma offers the most complete year-round life: the island’s hospitals, international schools, restaurants that stay open in January, and an airport twenty minutes away. It is the obvious answer for anyone who wants a city.

The southwest — Andratx, Camp de Mar, Santa Ponsa — is the established international corridor, well-served and quick into Palma, and the most familiar to British buyers.

The Tramuntana villages, Sóller, Deià and Valldemossa among them, offer the island’s most beautiful settings and its most constrained property market. The mountains are UNESCO-protected, which limits what can be built and is precisely why values there hold.

The northeast and east, around Pollença, Alcúdia and Artà, are quieter and more seasonal. Excellent in summer, genuinely quiet out of it — which some people want and others discover they do not.

The interior, around Santa María, Binissalem and Felanitx, is what many people choose in their second year: villages that stay awake through the winter, considerably more space for the money, twenty minutes from the coast rather than on it.

The honest advice is to rent for a year before buying, and to spend a February here inside it. The island in winter is the island you will actually live in.

Frequently asked questions

How long can I stay in Spain as a British citizen?

Ninety days in any rolling one-hundred-and-eighty-day period across the Schengen area, unless you hold a Spanish residence permit. Owning property does not change this.

How is the ninety-day allowance counted?

Look back over the previous 180 days and count every day spent anywhere in Schengen; the total must stay at or below 90. Leaving and returning does not reset it, and days in other Schengen countries count.

Does buying a house in Mallorca help me get residency?

No. Spain repealed the investor residence route in 2025. Residency depends on qualifying for a visa on other grounds.

What happens to my healthcare when I move?

A GHIC covers visits only. UK state pensioners can generally register an S1 to join the Spanish public system at UK expense; those working here pay into Spanish social security; everyone else needs private cover, which the non-lucrative visa requires in any case.

Can I keep my UK driving licence?

As a visitor, yes. As a resident, an exchange arrangement applies within a window from when you become resident. The rules have changed repeatedly since Brexit, so check the current position and start early.

Will my UK state pension still increase each year?

Yes. Under the social security agreement with Spain the state pension continues to be uprated, unlike in some other countries. Where it is taxed is a separate question decided by the double taxation treaty.

When do I become tax resident in Spain?

Generally after more than 183 days in Spain within a calendar year, though other tests can apply. Spanish residence applies to the whole calendar year rather than part of it, so the timing of a move matters.

Is Mallorca expensive to live in?

Housing in the sought-after coastal and Tramuntana areas is priced internationally rather than locally. Day-to-day costs are more moderate, though electricity is dearer than most arrivals expect. The gap between the two is wider here than on the Spanish mainland.