Long-term residents by citizenship on 31 December of each year
methods, notes and classification
DATA_DESCR Residence permits data contain statistical information based on Article 6 of Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007 with reference to: first permits granted to third-country nationals during the reference year, disaggregated by citizenship, reason for the permit being issued and by the length of validity of the permit; permits granted during the reference period on the occasion of person changing immigration status or reason to stay, disaggregated by citizenship, reason for the permit being issued and by the length of validity; permits valid at the end of the reference period, disaggregated by citizenship, reasons for the permit being issued and by the length of validity; number of long-term residents at the end of reference period. Statistics on EU Blue Cards contain information based on the Article 20 of the Council Directive 2009/50/EC of 25 May 2009 on: EU Blue Cards granted, renewed and withdrawn; Admitted family members of EU Blue Cards holders; EU Blue Cards holders and family members by Member State of previous residence
CLASS_SYSTEM Classification of citizenship is based on the ISO-3166 code list (using alpha-2) with minor changes. Classification of occupation based on ISCO-08 at the level of sub-major groups for the statistics on EU Blue Cards.
STAT_CONC_DEF Residence permit: Any authorisation valid for at least 3 months issued by the authorities of a Member State allowing a third country national to stay legally on its territory. áAccording to Article 6.2 ofá the Council Regulation (CE) No 862/2007 of 11 July 2007, when national laws and administrative practices of a Member State allow for specific categories of long-term visa or immigration status to be granted instead of residence permits, such visas and grants of statuses are also included in these statistics. First permit: Residence permit issued to a person for the first time. A residence permit is considered as a first permit also if the time gap between expiry of the old permit and the start of validity of the new permit issued for the same reason is at least 6 months, irrespective of the year of issuance of the permit. The convention of first permit relates to permits issued at all levels of administrative / judicial instances and by all national authorities. Thus, if at the first instance permission to reside was not granted but an appeal decision was positive at the second instance, the permission (resulting from appeal decision) shall be considered to be a first permit (if of course the time gap conditions are met). Permits granted during the reference period on the occasion of person changing immigration status or reason to stay: Permission to reside is considered as a change of immigration status or reason to stay if the period between the expiry of the old permit and the start of validity of the following permit is less than 6 months and the immigration status or reason to stay has been changed. Only changes between major categories can be recorded as a change of status permit. These major categories are: reasons related to family formation and reunification; reasons related to education and study; reasons related to remunerated activities; other reasons. Statistics related to the change of immigration status/reason to stay include permissions granted at all levels of administrative/judicial instances and by all national authorities. Long-term residents: Long-term resident status refers to permits issued under Council Directive 2003/109/EC. This is based on a total duration of legal residence of 5 years or longer, combined with a series of other conditions that must be met to qualify for this status. Third country nationals: Any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 17 (1) of the Treaty, including stateless persons (see Art. 2.1 (i) of the Council Regulation (EC) no 862/2007).á EU Blue Card: EU Blue Card refers to the authorisation bearing the term "EU Blue Card" entitling its holder to reside and work in the territory of a Member State under the terms of Council Directive 2009/50/EC (Article 2(c)). For further information on definitions, please see Annex 5. For further information on the compliance with definitions, please see Annex 1.
STAT_UNIT Each table refers to the number of persons, not to the number of administrative decisions or acts. For the exceptions please see Annex 1
STAT_POP The Residence permits statistics refer to the third country nationals who received residence permit or EU Blue Card in the EU and EFTA countries. Please see "Concepts and definitions" for the details of the categories of permissions recorded under residence permits statistics.
REF_AREA For Residence permits: EU27 Member States, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. For EU Blue Cards: EU27 Member States, except Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
BASE_PER Data are available from 2008 onward.
UNIT_MEASURE Person.
Methods 
Explanatory Notes 
Variables