All legal residents are eligible to become long-term residents after 5 years. However, students cannot count their time studying and refugees can only count some of their time waiting for an asylum decision. Conditions to become a long-term resident receive the best score of the MIPEX 28 (see box). Long-term residents in Spain enjoy the third best security after BE and SE. Since 2004, they can leave the country for a continuous period of 12 months instead of 6. Expulsion is precluded in practice for a wide variety of vulnerable groups. For others, such a decision must take into account many aspects of their personal circumstances, and offer various legal protections and opportunities to appeal. The state does not, however, consider downgrading their status as an alternative. Long-term residents enjoy equal access as Spaniards to employment, social protection, social assistance, healthcare, and housing. They do not, however, have the right to move freely, live, and hold a long-term residence permit in other EU Member States.
