EU long-term residence

It is important for the effective integration of third-country nationals that they have a stable and secure residence status, granting equal treatment with regards to work, education, and social security. This is why the Directive on the status of non-EU nationals who are long-term residents establishes that a person who has lived legally in an EU country for an uninterrupted period of five years, can obtain – upon application – the status of long-term resident pursuant to EU rules (note that national laws can also provide for a long-term resident status).

It is dependent upon the person having a stable and regular source of income, health insurance and, when required by the EU country, having complied with integration measures. The person must also not constitute a threat to public security or public policy.

On 27 April 2022, the European Commission adopted a proposal to recast the Directive revising a number of provisions of the Directive. The objectives pursued by the recast proposal are to address the main shortcomings identified in the implementation of the Directive and support the efforts of the EU to become more attractive to skills and talents from this.

Legal framework

Proposal to recast the Long-term residents Directive

The Directive on the status of non-EU nationals who are long-term residents sets the conditions under which non-EU nationals can obtain the status of long-term residents, which grant them a set of uniform rights, similar to those enjoyed by the citizens of the Member States.

More information on the key provisions of the Directive is available in the Summary of EU legislation – Long term residence.

The objectives of the Directive

The current Directive aims to:

• ensure that non-EU nationals who have lived in an EU country for at least five years have a permanent and secure residence status,
• grant these non-EU nationals a set of rights that are similar to those enjoyed by the nationals of the Member States, in terms of work, education, social security, access to goods and services,
• make it easier for these non-EU nationals to move to other EU countries to work and study.

A proposal to recast the Long-term residents Directive

The proposal to revise several provisions of the Long-Term Residents Directive (a proposal to recast) was tabled by the Commission in April 2022.

The recast proposal aims to make the EU more attractive to skills and talents from third countries and thereby address EU labour shortages by setting up a more effective, coherent and fair system to acquire EU long-term resident status. This system would be a key tool to promote the integration of nationals of non-EU countries who settled legally and on a long-term basis in the EU. The negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament are on hold since no agreement was reached at the end of the previous legislative term in 2024.

The proposal for the recast aims to:

• make it easier to acquire the EU long-term resident status by allowing the possibility of cumulating periods of residence in different Member States;
• strengthen the rights of EU long-term residents and their family members. This includes the right to work in other Member States;
• facilitate the circular migration of EU long-term residents;
• put in place a level playing field vis-à-vis national permanent residence permits in a number of areas so that third-country nationals can make a conscious choice when applying for a permanent status.