Retiring Abroad: Residency Day Rules by Country

The two clocks every retiree runs

Retiring abroad is usually described as a choice of country. In practice it is a counting problem. Every country you spend time in runs two separate day counts, and your home country runs a third:

1. 1Tax residency. Most countries make you tax resident at around 183 days a year, but the window differs (calendar year in Spain and Italy, a 12-month period in Portugal and Greece), Thailand uses 180 days, and Malta, Mexico and Paraguay have no statutory day count. See what is the 183-day rule?
2. 2The residence permit's absence limit. Your visa or permit has its own rule about how long you may be away — or, in Spain's case, how long you must be present to renew. These limits are set by immigration law and have nothing to do with the tax test.
3. 3Your home country's rules for leaving. The UK Statutory Residence Test decides whether you are still UK resident, NZ Super has a 26-week limit on each absence, and US citizens remain taxable on worldwide income wherever they live.

The clocks rarely line up. A retiree can be comfortably inside a permit's absence limit and still be tax resident in two countries at once — a situation the relevant tax treaty's tie-breaker then has to resolve (can you be tax resident in two countries?). This guide sets the clocks side by side for the countries Bounded covers. It describes day counts and residence rules; it is not a ranking of where to retire and not tax advice.

Country comparison: tax test, permit and absence limit

The table below lists, for each country, the tax-residency test, the permit retirees typically use, the permit's absence rule, and one feature that changes the planning. Each country name links to Bounded's full rule page; the sections that follow add the detail.

Two patterns stand out. First, Spain is the only country here where the permit itself requires more than 183 days of presence, so a non-lucrative resident who spends enough time to renew will almost always be Spanish tax resident too. Second, the countries with no statutory day count (Malta, Mexico, Paraguay) do not let you stay non-resident by keeping days low: a home, your centre of interests or, in Paraguay, permanent residence decides the question. The free 183-day calculator totals your days per country across trips, and the Bounded app logs your days in each country as you travel.

Portugal: 183 days in any 12 months, D7 absence limits

Tax test. You are Portuguese tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in any 12-month period starting or ending in the tax year, counting any day that includes an overnight stay — or if, on any day of that period, you have a home there in conditions suggesting you intend to keep and occupy it as your habitual residence (CIRS Article 16). Because the window rolls, a stay split across December and January can trigger it. Details: Portugal tax residency.

Permit. Retirees normally use the residence visa for retirees and people living on their own income, known as the D7. Under Article 85 of Lei 23/2007, a temporary permit can be cancelled after 6 consecutive months away or 8 months in total across its validity, unless the absence is justified to AIMA or you worked or carried on business, cultural or social activity while away. Permanent residence allows 24 consecutive months, or 30 months in any 3 years. See the 6-month absence rule and permanent residence absences.

Notable: the non-habitual resident (NHR) regime was revoked from 1 January 2024 by the 2024 State Budget. Existing beneficiaries keep it until the end of their 10-year period and some people who became resident by 31 December 2024 qualified under a transitional rule; its successor, IFICI, targets research and innovation work rather than pensions. Background: Portugal NHR.

Spain: 183 calendar days, and the permit needs them too

Tax test. More than 183 days in the calendar year, or having your main centre of economic interests in Spain, makes you resident and taxable on worldwide income (LIRPF Article 9). Sporadic absences count as days in Spain unless you prove tax residence elsewhere. See Spain's 183-day rule.

Permit. The usual retiree route is non-lucrative temporary residence. The old rule that more than six months abroad in a year extinguished a temporary permit (art. 162.2.e of RD 557/2011) was annulled by the Supreme Court on 5 June 2023, but the new Reglamento de Extranjería makes presence a renewal condition instead: under art. 64.2.f of RD 1155/2024, you must have lived in Spain “de forma real y efectiva” for more than 183 days in the calendar year. The Supreme Court's judgment of 8 July 2026 on the Reglamento annulled other provisions but not this one. Long-term residence, once you reach it, lapses after 12 consecutive months outside the EU — see Spain's residence absence rules.

Notable: for non-lucrative residents the immigration and tax thresholds converge. Planning to spend enough time in Spain to renew means planning to be Spanish tax resident.

Italy: 183 days with part-days, 6-month absence for renewal

Tax test. Since the 2024 reform, physical presence for the greater part of the calendar year — 183 days, or 184 in a leap year — makes you resident on its own, and fractions of a day count as full days. Domicile and habitual abode for the same period are alternative triggers, and registration in the population registry (anagrafe) creates a presumption of residence that you can rebut (TUIR Article 2). See Italy tax residency.

Permit. Retirees typically enter on the elective residence visa, which requires stable passive income such as pensions and does not allow work. Under DPR 394/99 Art. 13(4), a single continuous absence of more than 6 months — or more than half the validity for permits of two years or longer — can block renewal unless justified. See Italy's permit absence rule.

Notable: under art. 24-ter TUIR, holders of foreign pensions who move their tax residence to a municipality in Sicily, Calabria, Sardinia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Molise or Puglia (or certain earthquake-area towns) can opt for a 7% substitute tax on all foreign income for the year the option takes effect and the following nine. The population cap rose from 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants from 7 April 2026. You must not have been Italian resident in the previous five tax years, and you must move from a country with which Italy has an administrative cooperation agreement in force.

Cyprus: 183 days, the 60-day rule and Category F

Tax test. More than 183 days in the calendar year makes you resident. The 60-day rule offers a shorter path, but all of its conditions must be met: at least 60 days in Cyprus, no more than 183 days in any other single country, a permanent home in Cyprus that you own or rent, and a business or job in Cyprus, or an office (such as a directorship) in a Cyprus tax-resident company, that is not ended during the year. Since 1 January 2026 the old extra condition — that you are not tax resident anywhere else — no longer applies. The business, job or directorship condition is what rules most retirees out. See the Cyprus 60-day rule, the short answer, and the 60-day rule checker.

Permit. The Category F immigration permit is permanent residence for people with a secured income from abroad, including pensions, who will not work in Cyprus. According to the Migration Department it ceases if you are absent from Cyprus for two years or acquire permanent residence abroad.

Notable: Cyprus tax residents can elect, each year, to pay 5% on foreign pension income above €5,000 (the threshold was €3,420 for 2025 and earlier years) instead of the normal rates.

Malta: no statutory day count, and a programme that limits other countries

Tax test. Malta has no statutory 183-day rule. The Income Tax Act asks whether you reside in Malta apart from reasonable temporary absences — a facts-based test. In practice the tax authority treats more than 183 days in Malta in a year as residence; below that, days are one indicator among abode, intention and family ties. See Malta tax residency.

Retirement programme. The Malta Retirement Programme is a special tax status, not an immigration permit. Under its rules (S.L. 123.134) the status ends if you reside in Malta for less than 90 days a year averaged over any five-year period, or stay in any other jurisdiction for more than 183 days in a calendar year. The pension must be received in Malta and make up at least 75% of your chargeable income.

Notable: foreign income remitted to Malta is taxed at 15%, with a minimum tax of €7,500 a year plus €500 per dependant. The MRP is one of the few regimes that caps your days elsewhere, so it constrains a two-country lifestyle directly.

Greece: 183 days in any 12 months, and the 7% regime

Tax test. Spending more than 183 days in any rolling 12-month window makes you Greek tax resident, backdated to your first day of presence within the tax year in which you pass 183 days (Law 4172/2013, Art. 4; AADE Circular Ε.2064/2023). The day test does not apply to people in Greece purely for tourist, medical, therapeutic or similar private reasons whose stay does not exceed 365 days — but a permanent or principal residence, habitual abode or centre of vital interests in Greece makes you resident regardless of days. See Greece's rolling 183-day rule.

Permit. Greek law has no “retirement visa” as such; retirees use the I.8 residence permit for third-country nationals with sufficient resources (art. 163(8) of Law 5038/2023). It runs for three years, is renewable for equal periods while the income condition is met, and bars work in Greece. Under the Migration Code's general rule (art. 18(6)), a permit's validity is not affected by temporary absences of up to 6 months a year, or by a single absence of up to 12 consecutive months for serious reasons such as serious illness.

Notable: under art. 5B ITC, a person with a foreign pension who transfers tax residence to Greece pays a flat 7% on all foreign income for up to 15 tax years, provided they were not Greek tax resident in five of the previous six years and move from a country with a tax-cooperation agreement with Greece. The regime only helps if you actually become Greek tax resident, so the 183-day clock is the entry ticket.

Thailand: 180 days, and the re-entry permit trap

Tax test. 180 days or more in a calendar year makes you a Thai tax resident. Residents are taxed on foreign income they bring into Thailand from 1 January 2024 onwards, but only on income earned on or after that date — foreign income earned before 2024 is excluded (Revenue Department instructions Por. 161/2566 and 162/2566). See Thailand's 180-day rule.

Permit. Retirees commonly hold a one-year extension of stay based on retirement, a Non-Immigrant O-A visa, or the Board of Investment's LTR “wealthy pensioner” visa (age 50 or over, at least USD 80,000 a year of pension or passive income, or USD 40,000 plus USD 250,000 invested in Thailand; permission for five years, extendable by five; the LTR includes a multiple re-entry permit). The absence rule is blunt: according to the Immigration Bureau, a foreigner who leaves Thailand without a re-entry permit has their permission to stay terminated. With a re-entry permit, you return to the remaining period of your stay.

Notable: the UK State Pension is frozen for residents of Thailand — see the leaving-home section below.

Paraguay, Mexico and Uruguay: ties before days

Paraguay

Paraguay has no day threshold for tax residency: an individual with permanent residence under the migration law is treated as tax resident (Decreto 3181/2019, annex art. 2), and the system is territorial. The widely quoted 120-day figure is the tax code's presumption of domicile (Ley 125/1991, art. 152), not a residence test — see Paraguay tax residency. Under the migration law (Ley 6984/2022, arts. 54–55), permanent residence is lost after more than 3 years of absence not justified to the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, and temporary residence can be cancelled after more than 1 year; residents can ask the Dirección to authorise a longer absence in advance.

Mexico

Mexico also has no statutory day count. A home in Mexico makes you tax resident; if you also have a home in another country, the question becomes whether your centre of vital interests is in Mexico (CFF Art. 9) — see Mexico tax residency. Pensioners with sufficient foreign income can obtain permanent residence directly under art. 54 III of the Ley de Migración; the same article gives permanent residents the right to enter and leave the country as often as they wish.

Uruguay

Uruguay uses the more familiar test: more than 183 days in the civil year, or your economic or vital interests in Uruguay — see Uruguay tax residency.

Leaving home: UK, New Zealand and US rules

Becoming resident somewhere new does not end your old residency automatically. Three home-country regimes matter most for retirees.

United Kingdom: the Statutory Residence Test

The Statutory Residence Test runs on the April–April tax year. As a leaver — UK resident in one or more of the previous three tax years — you are automatically non-resident with fewer than 16 days in the UK; after three non-resident years, the limit rises to fewer than 46 days (the automatic overseas tests). Between those figures and 183 days, the sufficient ties test decides: a leaver becomes resident at 16–45 days with 4 ties, 46–90 with 3, 91–120 with 2 and 121–182 with 1. In the year you move, split-year treatment can divide the year. The UK SRT calculator works through the tests.

The UK State Pension is paid worldwide, but GOV.UK applies the annual increase only if you live in the EEA, Switzerland, Gibraltar or a country whose social security agreement allows it (not Canada or New Zealand). Portugal, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Malta and Greece qualify; Thailand, Paraguay, Mexico and Uruguay do not, so the pension is frozen at the rate first paid there. You must also choose one country for payment — it cannot follow you between countries during the year.

New Zealand: NZ Super overseas

NZ Super and the Veteran's Pension continue during each absence of up to 26 weeks — the limit is per trip, not a yearly total — see the 26-week absence limit and how long NZ pensioners can stay overseas. To live overseas, Work and Income asks you to apply at least 6 weeks before leaving. The amount then depends on the destination: social security agreement countries such as Greece and Malta follow their agreement — but NZ Super cannot be paid to someone living in the UK, where a UK payment may be available under the UK agreement instead — 22 Pacific countries pay 50% to 100% based on years in New Zealand since age 20, and other countries pay a proportion based on residence in New Zealand between ages 20 and 65.

United States: citizens stay in the system

The IRS taxes US citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live, so moving abroad changes nothing about the obligation to file. The foreign earned income exclusion does not help with retirement income: the IRS states that foreign earned income excludes pensions, annuities and Social Security benefits. Foreign tax credits and treaties may limit double taxation, but most treaties' saving clause preserves US taxation of citizens. Non-citizen retirees who winter in the US face the opposite question — whether they become US resident under the substantial presence test.

Worked example: a UK retiree splitting Spain and the UK

Margaret, a British retiree, holds Spanish non-lucrative residence and rents a flat in Spain, and keeps her flat in England so she can spend summers near family. In her first full year away she plans 200 days in Spain, 120 days in the UK and 45 days travelling. She is widowed, has no children under 18 and does no work. She spent the whole of the previous tax year in the UK.

1. 1Spanish permit: 200 days is more than 183 in the calendar year, so the art. 64.2.f renewal condition is met.
2. 2Spanish tax: the same 200 days exceed 183, so she is Spanish tax resident for the calendar year.
3. 3UK automatic tests: she was UK resident in the previous three years, so the overseas limit is fewer than 16 days. At 120 days she fails it. She is under 183 days, the UK-home test does not apply because she also has her Spanish home and spends far more than 30 days in it, and she does no UK work — so the sufficient ties test decides.
4. 4UK ties: her flat is available all year and she sleeps there — an accommodation tie. She spent more than 90 days in the UK last year — a 90-day tie. With no UK-resident spouse or minor children and no UK work, she has no family or work tie, and because Spain, not the UK, is where she spends most midnights, there is no country tie. Two ties at 91–120 days makes her UK resident.
5. 5Result: resident in both countries for overlapping periods. The UK–Spain treaty's tie-breaker would have to allocate her, starting with where she has a permanent home — and she has one in each.

The fix is a day count. If Margaret keeps UK days to 90 or fewer, she falls into the 46–90 band, where a leaver needs 3 ties; with two she is non-UK-resident, while her Spanish position is unchanged. Note that the windows differ — the Spanish count runs January to December, the UK count April to April — so she has to check both against the same travel record. The SRT calculator and the 183-day calculator handle each side; the Bounded app keeps one log of your days in each country to check both against.

Sources

• Portal das Finanças — CIRS, Artigo 16.º (residência)
• Portal das Finanças — NHR registration leaflet (regime revoked from 1 January 2024)
• Diário da República — Lei n.º 23/2007 (consolidated), Artigo 85.º
• gov.pt — Residence visa for retirees and people living on their own income (D7)
• Agencia Tributaria — Tax residence of individuals in Spain
• Ministerio de Inclusión — Renewal of non-lucrative temporary residence (RD 1155/2024, art. 64)
• BOE — Reglamento de Extranjería, RD 1155/2024
• BOE — Supreme Court judgment of 5 June 2023 annulling art. 162.2.e RD 557/2011 (BOE-A-2024-4142)
• BOE — Supreme Court judgment of 8 July 2026 on RD 1155/2024 (BOE-A-2026-19632)
• Agenzia delle Entrate — Optional 7% regime for foreign pensioners (art. 24-ter TUIR)
• Agenzia delle Entrate — Circolare 20/E of 4 November 2024 on tax residence
• Consulate General of Italy in New York — Elective residency visa
• Normattiva — DPR 394/1999 (art. 13, residence permit renewal)
• CyLaw — Law 244(I)/2025, Income Tax (Amending) (No. 4) Law 2025 (Gazette No. 5070, 31.12.2025), s. 2: new definition of "resident"; s. 25: in force 1 January 2026
• Cyprus Ministry of Finance — Tax reform 2026
• Cyprus Tax Department — Tax reform 2026 for individuals (presentation, 11 May 2026): 60-day rule conditions
• Cyprus Ministry of Finance — Tax incentives (foreign pensions)
• Cyprus Tax Department — Guide to completing the 2025 individual tax return (foreign pension at €3,420)
• Cyprus Migration Department — Immigration Permits (Category F)
• Legislation Malta — Malta Retirement Programme Rules (S.L. 123.134)
• Legislation Malta — Income Tax Act, Cap. 123
• AADE — Tax residence of natural persons (ITC art. 4)
• AADE — Tax incentives for new tax residents (articles 5A, 5B, 5C ITC)
• Thai Revenue Department — Taxpayer residency
• Greek Migration Code, Law 5038/2023, art. 163(8) — I.8 permit for persons with sufficient resources
• Greek Migration Code, Law 5038/2023, art. 18(6) — temporary absences that do not affect a residence permit
• Thai Revenue Department — Departmental Instruction Por. 162/2566 (pre-2024 income excluded, Thai)
• Thai Immigration Bureau (Bangkok) — Re-entry permit
• Thailand BOI — Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa
• BACN Paraguay — Ley N.º 6984/2022 de Migraciones (arts. 54–55)
• Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (Paraguay) — Cancellation of residence for unjustified absence
• SET / DNIT — Decreto N.º 3181/2019, annex art. 2 (tax residents)
• OAS — Paraguay Ley N.º 125/1991 (art. 152, domicile of individuals)
• Cámara de Diputados (Mexico) — Código Fiscal de la Federación (art. 9)
• DGI Uruguay — Causales de residencia fiscal
• Cámara de Diputados (Mexico) — Ley de Migración (art. 54)
• HMRC — RDR3: Statutory Residence Test
• Finance Act 2013, Schedule 45, paragraph 8 — second automatic UK test (UK home)
• GOV.UK — State Pension if you retire abroad: claim State Pension abroad (one country of payment)
• GOV.UK — State Pension if you retire abroad: how your pension is affected
• GOV.UK — Claim benefits if you live, move or travel abroad: countries with UK social security agreements
• Work and Income — Living overseas if you get NZ Super or Veteran's Pension
• Work and Income — Social Security Agreements and special arrangements
• IRS — U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad
• IRS — Frequently asked questions about international individual tax matters
• IRS — Tax treaties can affect your income tax (saving clause)