GLOBALIUMEXPATS
RESIDENCY

NIE, TIE, renewals and the long game

A visa gets you in. Residency is what keeps you here, and it is mostly a calendar problem: cards expire, renewal windows open and close, and a permit that lapses by three weeks is a very different conversation from one renewed on time.

This is also where the five-year clock runs. Long-term residence and, later, citizenship are both counted in days of legal residence, which is why absences and gaps between permits matter far more than most people are told at the start.

Not sure which of these you need?

That is a normal place to start, and it is a short conversation. Tell us your situation and we will tell you which route applies — including when the answer is that none of them do.