Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2020 4:48pm
Hi Christie,
"When you become a resident are you still restricted by the 90/180 rule?"
Not in Spain. When you become a Spanish resident (not the same as citizenship), for the first 5 years, your residency is 'temporary' - you have to live in Spain for at least 183 days per year; but in those first 5 years, you cannot be absent for more than a total of 12 months. Once you have lived permanently in Spain for 5 years, your residency is 'permanent' and you cannot be outside of Spain for more than 12 months continuously, nor more than 30 months total during the previous 5 years.
"Can you stay longer than 90 days in another EU country?"
As a Spanish resident, yes, because your time spent in Spain would not count towards the Schengen rule of 90 days in a rolling 180 days, but as a UK citizen you would still be subject to the residency rules I've described in the answer above. (If you do not have residency in Spain or any other EU country, you would not be able to spend more than 90 days in another EU country.)
"Or can you come back for say 2 days to Spain then have another 90 days in another EU country?"
No, while your time in Spain doesn't count against the 90 in 180 Schengen rules, if you've spent 90 days in another Schengen country, you would still have to return to Spain for 90 days before you could enter the Schegen travel zone again. Also, as a Spanish resident (temporary or permanent residency), you can leave Spain for more than 90 days (to return, for example, to the UK or Ireland, which are not Schengen zone countries), but subject to the maximum absences described in my first answer regarding the need to comply with the terms of your Spanish residency.
"Also to muddy the waters if your spouse has a EU passport can you stay longer with them?"
Without residency, no. Before the end of this year, you can apply for residency in Spain in your own right and retain your rights as an EU citizen. From 1 January 2021, it will probably be easier for you to apply as a family member of your EU spouse, rather than in your own right as a TCN (Third Country National). Unfortunately, until we know for sure on what terms the UK is leaving the EU, it's not possible to be any more definitive, which is probably why you couldn't get an answer from the French site.
Kind regards,
Kim