# Permanent residency rules when moving between EU countries



## kingkongx (Oct 25, 2015)

Hello Everyone,

I have been living in Spain with my family for the past two years. I have a highly qualified professional work permit and my work permit renewal application for another two years is underway.

I expect that in next 8-12 months my company may ask me to relocate to Lisbon on a Portugese work permit. My company will help with all the related procedures.

What I want to know is whether I will need to complete another 5 years in Portugal for permanent residency? Or are the first three years spent in spain taken into account i.e. only 2 more years of residence in Portugal will be required for permanent residency?

My company has many offices in Europe and I expect I will be moving around every 2/3 years. Renewing work permit every two years is a bit of pain.

Cheers,


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## Great-Dane (Oct 17, 2017)

You may check into the "Non Habitual residency", regards


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

According to this post _ "With the EU blue card you can move to another EU country after 18 months AND the residence time in your previous country will count towards attaining the 5 years residence requirement in your second country (or third etc). This means you don't have to stick it out for 5 years in 1 single country to be able to request the EU PR. There are 3 countries that do not partake in this directive however: UK, Denmark, and Ireland (IIRC)."_

"PR" is his abbreviation for Permanent Residence.

Post author's link to the relevant EU regulations.


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## kingkongx (Oct 25, 2015)

Thanks great-dane & dancebert for your answers.
Unfortunately I don´t have a EU Blue Card even though I qualify for it.
It seems most of the blue cards are issued by germany and rest of the countries only issue a handful.
Looks like I will have to complete my 5 years in Spain.

Thanks again!


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