Spain is a party to the Schengen Agreement. This means that U.S. citizens may enter Spain for up to 90 days for tourism or business without a visa. Your passport should be valid for at least three months beyond the period of stay.
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The short-stay visa only allows you to reside in Spain for up to 90 days at a time out of every 180 days, or a maximum of around 180 days a year. This is fine if your trips will be no longer than three months at a time, no more than twice a year.
Prison sentences – Staying in Spain for over 90 days in any 180 days without a valid visa can result in jail time. Depending on how long you overstay your welcome, you could be sentenced to 6-12 months in prison.
Once you have reached the 90/180 day limit, you must return to your country of origin. If you wanted to extend your stay in Spain, you would still need to return home to apply for an appropriate visa at your country's Spanish embassy, so that you can come back to Spain and obtain a residence permit for a longer stay.
This rule simply states that you can live in Spain without residency for a maximum of 90 days. After those 3 months, you need to either obtain a residence permit, or leave the country. And that is because the shortest stay option is the tourist (or Schengen) visa, which lasts exactly for 90 days.
If you hold an American passport, you can stay in Spain for up to 90 days within any period of 180 days without a visa under the 90/180 rule. However, if you plan to stay longer than 90 days, you'll need to apply for a Spanish D visa, which comes in different categories depending on the purpose of your travel.
If you are a non-EEA national (including British) and wish to stay in Spain for longer than 90 days, you will need a visa. You should apply for the visa that suits your purpose from a Spanish Consulate in your home country.
Note that if you are permitted to stay in Spain for a maximum of 180 days, then you do not need to complete any other procedures. On the other hand, if you will be staying in Spain for more than six months, then you should get a tarjeta de identidad de extranjero (TIE), which means Foreigner Identity Card.
Spain currently does not have any plans of changing the 90-day rule. Technically, this rule is not under Spanish jurisdiction, as it is a rule that applies to the whole Schengen Area. So even if Spain wanted to change this rule, the change can only be initiated by authorities of the European Union.