Proposal for a Directive concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents (recast)

Summary:

Legislative initiative tabled by the European Commission on 27 April 2022, aimed at revising the so-called Long Term Residents Directive.

Further information:

Directive 2003/109/EC sets out the terms and conditions for granting and withdrawing long-term residence (EU LTR) status to non-European Union citizens living legally in a EU country for at least 5 years. It also determines their rights and the areas where they enjoy equal treatment with EU citizens. It spells out the conditions which apply if they wish to move to another EU Member State.

The 2019 fitness check on legal migration identified a number of shortcomings with regard to the achievement of the objectives, as well as practical issues arising from the application of the Directive by the Member States. This draft law aims to create a more effective, coherent and fair system to acquire EU long-term resident status. It allows third-country nationals to cumulate residence periods in different Member States in order to fulfil the requirement concerning the duration of residence, and it clarifies that all periods of legal residence should be fully counted. The proposal also aims to strengthen the rights of long-term residents and their family members, and it puts in place a mechanism to ensure a level playing field between the EU long-term residence permit and national permanent residence permits in terms of procedures, equal treatment rights, and access to information.

This draft law was tabled by the European Commission on 27 April 2022 as part of the Skills and Talent package of measures proposed as a follow-up to the Commission's New Pact on Migration and Asylum.

• Primary Source

Official

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)650: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Executive Summary of the Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:650:FIN

EUR-LEX: SWD(2022)651: Staff Working Document accompanying the Proposal - Impact Assessment Report https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=SWD:2022:651:FIN

European Commission: Press Release, 27/04/2022: Legal migration: Attracting skills and talent to the EU https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_2654

European Commission: Questions and Answers – Attracting skills and talent to the EU (27 April 2022) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_22_2655

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