ΕλληνικάTwo regimes, not one
The question a lawyer is actually asked is rarely how one obtains a residence permit in Luxembourg. It is asked by someone already inside one of two entirely separate regimes, without always knowing which. Citizens of the European Union, together with nationals of Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, fall within a declaratory regime: they exercise a right conferred by the Treaty, and the administration records it. Third-country nationals fall within an authorization regime: they hold no right of entry and must obtain the minister’s prior agreement.
The distinction is not academic. It determines when each step must be taken, which authority is competent, what the deadlines are, and above all what happens when a step is missed. In the first regime an omission can be repaired. In the second it can bar the stay altogether.
EU citizens: a declaration, not an authorisation
For a stay not exceeding three months no formality is required. A valid national identity card or passport suffices. The citizen may declare their arrival to the commune if they wish, but is not obliged to.
For a stay exceeding three months two successive steps apply, and they are frequently confused. The first is the declaration of arrival, made to the communal administration of the new place of residence within eight days of arrival. The second is the registration declaration, made to the same communal administration within three months of arrival. It is this second step that produces the registration certificate.
The certificate is issued immediately on production of the supporting documents. It records the holder’s names and exact address, the date of registration and the declaration number. It carries no photograph and no indication of nationality. It is therefore not an identity document, and the expectation of something resembling the residence permit issued to third-country nationals is a widespread misunderstanding.
The documents required vary with the category relied on. An employee produces a signed and dated contract or promise of employment. A self-employed person evidences their activity. A student evidences enrolment at an approved establishment, sickness insurance and sufficient resources. An economically inactive person evidences sufficient resources so as not to become a burden on the social assistance system, together with sickness insurance. The category relied on is not a matter of indifference: it governs whether the right of residence is retained later.
Third-country nationals: the authorization comes before entry
A third-country national seeking to settle in Luxembourg for more than three months must follow a two-stage procedure, and the order of those stages causes most of the difficulties.
The first stage takes place before entry. An application for a temporary authorization to stay is made to the Immigration Directorate of the Ministry of Home Affairs. If granted, the authorization is sent by post and is valid for ninety days. Those subject to a visa requirement must then apply for a type D visa. The authorization must be obtained before arrival; it cannot, in principle, be regularized from within Luxembourg.
The second stage follows entry. The third-country national makes a declaration of arrival to their commune of residence within three days — not eight, as for EU citizens — producing their travel document, the original temporary authorization and, where applicable, proof of address. The copy of the declaration of arrival, together with the authorization, serves as authority to stay until the residence permit is issued.
They must then undergo the medical control for foreign nationals, comprising a medical examination by a doctor established in Luxembourg and tuberculosis screening. The residence permit application must be lodged no later than three months after entry. The doctor has one month to transmit the provisional certificate to the Health Inspectorate, which issues the definitive certificate, and the Immigration Directorate cannot process the application until that certificate is received. It is therefore in the applicant’s interest to attend the examination without delay: the three-month period runs regardless of appointment availability.
The undertaking of financial responsibility
The engagement de prise en charge is an instrument by which a person undertakes to bear the costs of a foreign national’s stay, healthcare and repatriation. It is not a courtesy formality. It creates a personal obligation capable of being enforced against the signatory, and it is regularly signed by people who have not measured either its extent or its duration.
Anyone asked to sign such an undertaking should have its scope examined before signature rather than after receiving a demand for reimbursement.
Family reunification
The conditions differ according to whether the sponsor is an EU citizen or a third-country national. Where the sponsor is a third-country national, the application must be lodged and favorably determined before the family member enters the territory.
Three conditions are examined consistently. Resources: the sponsor must evidence sufficient means to support themselves and their family members, with evidence covering the twelve months preceding the application. Accommodation: the floor area may not be less than twelve square meters for the first occupant and nine square meters for each additional occupant, and the accommodation must be heated, lit by opening windows and supplied with running water and electricity. Sickness insurance: cover must be evidenced for the sponsor and for each family member.
Certain categories of family member become eligible only after the sponsor has resided in Luxembourg for at least twelve months, and subject to the minister’s prior approval. The accommodation condition defeats more applications than any other, because it is assessed against the projected family composition rather than the existing household.
Renewal, permanent residence and long-term resident status
After five years of lawful and uninterrupted residence an EU citizen may apply for a permanent residence certificate. A third-country national family member may, on the same conditions, obtain a permanent residence card, issued within six months of the application.
A third-country national who is not the family member of an EU citizen falls within a separate regime: long-term resident status, likewise available after five years of lawful and uninterrupted residence. The conditions are more demanding and include evidence of stable, regular and sufficient resources throughout the five years preceding the application, without recourse to the social inclusion income scheme, appropriate accommodation, a social security affiliation certificate covering the last five years, sickness insurance, a Luxembourg criminal record extract, and evidence of integration into Luxembourg society.
These requirements accumulate over time. Someone who discovers after five years that a period of affiliation is missing, or that their resources fell below the threshold for several months, cannot reconstruct the past.
A sensible sequence
Establish which regime applies first, because it governs everything else. If the authorization regime applies, begin the application before travelling and do not enter in the hope of regularizing afterwards. Observe the short arrival-declaration deadlines, eight days or three days as the case may be. Book the medical examination on arrival. Keep, from the first year, the documents that will be required five years later. And have the scope of any undertaking of financial responsibility examined before signing it.
Points reserved for Luxembourg legal review before publication
The document lists and certain deadlines appear in published procedures rather than in the statute and may change without legislative amendment; they must be verified at the date of publication. The wording concerning the undertaking of financial responsibility, and in particular the extent and duration of the signatory’s obligation, requires confirmation. And the relationship between the permanent residence card for the family member of an EU citizen and long-term resident status should be reviewed, the two regimes being routinely conflated.
Contact OIKONOMAKIS LAW — Luxembourg. Email leads@oikonomakislaw.com. This article is general information and not a legal opinion on any particular situation.
Prepared by Christos Oikonomakis, Chairman, OIKONOMAKIS LAW