EU Long-Term Resident Status: Absences in the Five Years Before You Apply

To qualify for EU long-term resident status, your five years in one member state must be continuous. Time abroad is allowed within two limits set in months, and every day outside that member state counts, the rest of the EU included.

Last verified: October 2026

The rule

Article 4(1) of Council Directive 2003/109/EC requires member states to grant long-term resident status to non-EU nationals who have lived legally and continuously on their territory for the five years immediately before they apply. Article 4(3) then says which absences from that member state leave the five years intact: absences shorter than six consecutive months, as long as together they do not exceed ten months within those five years.

• Two limits apply at once. Each absence has its own six-month ceiling, and all absences share the ten-month total. A single absence of six months or more is not covered, even with nothing else on the record.
• Absences within the limits count towards the five years. The directive takes them into account in the calculation, so a trip within the allowance does not have to be made up afterwards.
• National law can allow more. For specific or exceptional reasons of a temporary nature, a member state may accept a longer absence without breaking continuity. That time is then left out of the five years, unless it is a work secondment, which a member state may choose to count.
• Some residence does not count. Time spent on purely temporary grounds, for example as an au pair or seasonal worker, or with diplomatic status, is left out of the five years. Residence for study or vocational training counts for at most half.

The wording is strict: the directive covers absences shorter than six consecutive months, so an absence of exactly six months is outside it. Spain's national regulation says up to six months and allows eighteen months in total for work. Its version is covered in Spain long-term residence: absences in the five years before you apply.

Where it applies

The directive binds 25 of the 27 member states. Denmark and Ireland are not bound by it (recitals 25 and 26), and neither was the United Kingdom while it was a member. The status is granted by the member state you live in, and the five years are counted there.

The residence permit that comes with the status names its type as “long-term resident – EC”, the wording Article 8(3) sets. Since a 2011 amendment the permit itself is called the long-term resident's EU residence permit. Germany, France and several other member states also issue national permanent residence permits, which have their own requirements and absence rules. This guide covers only the EU status.

This is the rule for qualifying. Once you hold the status, a different rule decides whether you keep it: Article 9 ends it after twelve consecutive months outside the EU, rather than outside the member state.

What counts as an absence

The directive measures absence from the territory of the member state concerned. A month in another EU country is time away from the country you apply in, exactly like a trip to another continent, even though both countries are in the EU.

The text also does not say whether the day you leave and the day you come back count as days away. This guide treats them as days in the country. Counting them as away is the more cautious reading, and adds two days to every trip.

How many days are six and ten months?

The directive does not say. It gives both limits in months, does not say whether a month means a calendar month, and does not say how trips of a few days add up to months. Each member state applies it through its own law, so practice can differ.

Six months in a row

181 to 184 days, depending on which months they are; 180 at 30 days a month

Ten months in a row

303 to 306 days, depending on which months they are

Separate trips added up

Needs a fixed length for a month. At 30 days, ten months is 300 days; at the average calendar month of about 30.4 days, about 304

30 days a month gives the lowest figures. A single absence of 179 days or fewer is shorter than six months on every reading, and a total that stays within 300 days is within ten months on every reading. Above those figures, the readings start to disagree.

How to count it

1. Start from the date your legal residence in the member state began. The five years run from there, and once they are complete, from five years before the date you apply.
2. List every trip outside that member state with exact departure and return dates, including trips to other EU countries.
3. Check each trip on its own: it has to be shorter than six consecutive months.
4. Add up the days away across the five years and compare the total with ten months. Keep absences that national law may treat differently, such as a work secondment, identifiable.

Beyond the day count

Staying within the absence limits keeps the five years continuous. It does not settle the application by itself: the residence also has to have been legal throughout, the directive requires stable and regular resources and sickness insurance, and member states may add integration conditions. The authority decides on the documents you provide, so keep evidence of your travel dates.

The rule may change. The European Commission proposed a recast of the directive in 2022, which is not law: the European Parliament has not yet adopted its first-reading position. Until a new text is adopted and applied, the 2003 directive is the rule.

Naturalisation and tax residence are separate procedures with their own rules, and the same trips can give different answers under each.

AtlasDays tracks your absences for EU long-term residence automatically

Add the free EU Long-Term Residence preset for your country, and keep your days away up to date in AtlasDays, planned trips included.

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FAQ

Does a trip to another EU country count as an absence?

Yes. The directive measures absence from the territory of the member state you apply in, so time in any other country counts, including countries inside the EU.

How many days are ten months of absence?

The directive does not say. Ten consecutive calendar months are 303 to 306 days. Added up from separate trips at 30 days a month, ten months is 300 days, the lowest figure any reading gives.

Is this the same as the 12-month rule for losing the status?

No. The six- and ten-month limits apply to the five years before you apply and count absence from the member state. The 12-month rule applies once you hold the status and counts absence from the EU.

About this article: AtlasDays provides general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Rules change and outcomes depend on your circumstances, so never rely on it alone: check the linked official source or ask a qualified professional.