A long-term resident in the European Union is a person who is not a citizen of an EU country but has resided legally and continuously within its territory for five years with a means of support (i.e. without recourse to the social assistance system of the host country) and fulfills some further requirements, as defined in Directive 2003/109/EC.
The implementation of the directive is left to the participating countries, with some national variations in the requirements for and benefits of long-term resident status.
[11] Additionally, status holders coming for employment will only require a work permit for the first 12 months, as opposed to the ordinary five years.
[15] Following the deadline for the introduction of a specific immigration status as a long-term resident of the European Union in 2006, the Directive was found to affect a relatively small percentage of the third-country nationals in most participating countries.
Reports[17] provide information on specifics of application of the Directive in national legislation systems, as well as statistics of adoption of this type of residence permit.