Long-Term Residence in the European Union

EU Permanent Residence under the European LTR Directive

Dr. Jean-Philippe Chetcuti | 05 Feb 2021

Doing Business in Europe

EU DIRECTIVE ON LONG-TERM RESIDENCE

The integration of non-EU nationals who are long-term residents in the EU States is key to promoting economic and social cohesion in the EU. A non-EU national who has legally resided in an EU State for a certain period of time should thus be granted a set of uniform rights, almost identical to those enjoyed by EU citizens.

Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents

By creating a single status for third-country nationals who are long-term resident in a European Union member state, the Directive approximates the laws of the European Member States and ensures equal treatment throughout the European Union, whatever the Member State of residence.  The Directive applies to all third-country nationals residing legally in the territory of a Member State.  Some categories of individual are excluded from its scope because their situation is precarious or because they are resident on a short-term basis (asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their status, seasonal workers, persons who have been granted temporary protection or a subsidiary form of protection, persons who have been granted a permit to pursue studies or vocational training).

The Member States must apply the Directive in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination pursuant to Article 13 of the EC Treaty and Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

For the purposes of this proposal, the following definitions apply:

  • third-country national: any person who is not a citizen of one of the Member States of the European Community;
  • long-term resident: any third-country national who has the status provided for in the Directive;
  • first Member State: the Member State which granted long-term resident status;
  • second Member State: any Member State other than the one which granted long-term resident status;
  • family members: persons defined as family members by the Directive on the right to family reunification;
  • refugee: any person enjoying refugee status within the meaning of the Geneva Convention;
  • long-term residence permit: the permit issued by a Member State on the acquisition of long-term resident status.

Long-term resident status

Member State must recognise long-term resident status after five years’ continuous legal residence.  Absences from the Member State for less than six months or for specific reasons (military service, secondment for work purposes, serious illness, maternity, research or studies) will be regarded as not interrupting the period of residence.

In order to obtain long-term resident status, third-country nationals must prove that they have:

  • stable resources, and
  • sickness insurance for themselves and their family.

Member States may require third-country nationals to comply with further integration conditions (such as language proficiency).

Member States may refuse to grant long-term resident status on grounds of public policy or public security.

The competent authority must take a decision on whether to grant long-term resident status no more than six months after the application is lodged. Decisions to reject an application must be notified in writing to the person concerned, stating the reasons and indicating the redress procedures available and the deadline for action on the part of the applicant. Long-term residents will receive a resident permit that is standard for all Member States, valid for ten years and renewable automatically.

Long-term resident status may be withdrawn only on certain grounds which are set out in the Directive (absence from the territory for more than two years, fraudulent acquisition of the status).

Persons who have acquired long-term resident status will enjoy equal treatment with nationals as regards:

  • access to paid and unpaid employment, conditions of employment and working conditions (working hours, health and safety standards, holiday entitlements, remuneration and dismissal);
  • education and vocational training, recognition of qualifications;
  • welfare benefits (family allowances, retirement pensions, etc.) and sickness insurance;
  • social assistance (minimum income support or retirement pensions, free health care, etc.);
  • social benefits, tax relief, access to goods and services;
  • freedom of association and union membership; freedom to represent a union or association.
  • free access to the entire territory of the Member State concerned.

In certain cases, Member States may restrict equal treatment with nationals with respect to access to employment and to education (e.g. by requiring proof of appropriate language proficiency). In the field of social assistance and social protection, Member States may limit equal treatment to core benefits. They are nevertheless free to add to the list of areas in which they grant equal treatment with nationals or the list of benefits they provide for their nationals.

Long-term residents enjoy enhanced protection against expulsion. The conduct on which expulsion decisions are based must constitute an actual and sufficiently serious threat to public order or domestic security that affects a fundamental interest of society. Such decisions may not be founded on economic considerations. The Member States undertake to consider specific factors before taking a decision to expel a long-term resident (age of the person concerned, duration of residence, etc.).

The provisions of the Directive do not prevent Member States from issuing permanent residence permits on terms that are more favourable than those set out in the Directive. Nevertheless, such residence permits do not confer the right of residence in the other Member States.

LTR Rights in the other Member States

A long-term resident may exercise the right of residence, for a period exceeding three months, in a Member State other than the one which granted him the status, subject to compliance with certain conditions laid down in this proposal, including:

  • exercise of an economic activity in an employed or self-employed capacity; or
  • pursuit of studies or vocational training; or
  • other purposes.

However, a Member State may limit the number of residence permits if, at the time of the adoption of this Directive, limitations for the admission of third-country nationals are already set out in existing national law. At the same time, for reasons of labour market policy, Member States may give preference to Union citizens.

The above conditions do not concern employees posted for the purpose of cross-border provision of services nor providers of cross-border services.

When the application for a residence permit is lodged, the competent authorities in the second Member State may require the presentation of certain documents (such as the long-term residence permit, an identity document, an employment contract, documentation with regard to appropriate accommodation, etc.) and evidence of stable and regular resources and medical insurance.

The family members of the long-term resident may accompany him to the second Member State or join him there on condition that they already formed a family in the first Member State. If this is not the case, Directive 2003/86/EC on the right to family reunification applies.

The second Member State may refuse applications for residence only where there is an actual threat to public policy, public security or public health. In the case of public health, the Directive allows Member States to require a medical examination in order to certify that the persons in question do not suffer from any diseases that are the subject of protective provisions in the host country. It also provides for a series of procedural guarantees such as the statutory period for examining applications for residence permits, the arrangements for notifying interested parties, redress procedures and the conditions governing expulsion.

As soon as they enter the second Member State, long-term residents enjoy all the benefits which they enjoyed in the first Member State under the same conditions as nationals.

Long-term residents living in the second Member State retain their status in the first Member State until they have acquired the same status in the second Member State. If they so wish, they may, after being legally resident in the second Member State for five years, apply to be considered as long-term residents in that Member State.

As a general rule, the first Member State are obliged to readmit, together with their family members, long-term residents whose residence permits have been withdrawn by the second Member State.

History of the European Long-Term Residence Directive

At the Tampere European Council (15-16 October 1999), the Member States emphasised the need to give equitable treatment to third-country nationals legally resident in the European Union. In particular, all third-country nationals who have been resident in a Member State for a given period of time should be granted a set of uniform rights which are as near as possible to those enjoyed by EU citizens (point 21 of the Tampere conclusions). The Directive is also designed to give full effect to Article 63(4) of the EC Treaty by setting out the rights of third-country nationals residing legally in a Member State to reside in the other Member States.


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