A vacation is usually supposed to be a break from the routine, but what happens when you fall in love with a place and just don’t want to leave? Long-term stay may be an option, but it could require a change in legal status and other administrative steps that you didn’t need for a purely touristic visit.
This may sound like an insurmountable obstacle and could discourage some people from pursuing their dreams. While residency rules are indeed complex and unique to each country, it’s totally possible to meet the threshold and gain a legal approval to stay long term if you have all the required documents and follow the right steps.
What Is Legal Residency?
To put it simply, permanent residency is an immigration status that sits in between a simple right to be in the country and a full-fledged citizenship. It represents an official permission to settle in a country on a long-term basis and acquire certain rights. As such, it is fundamentally different from a tourist or even a business visa, which allow for a considerably more limited range of activities.
This designation can be awarded on a temporary or permanent basis, and the applicant needs to follow the regulations very closely in order to earn and keep it. In many places, it’s mandatory to stay within the country for a set period of time, and there might be language requirements as well.
What You Can and Can’t Do As a Resident?
If you are wondering why you even need residency status, the answer is that it lets you turn your extended vacation into legitimate settlement. As a permanent resident, you gain a much wider scope of rights that make organising your life and setting down firm roots much less complicated.
Essentially, residents can do almost everything that native-born citizens can, including paying their taxes in their adopted homeland (on the condition they reside there for most of the year). There is one notable exception, and that’s voting. Only citizens can vote in elections at any level of government, and for the purposes of political representation legal residents remain foreigners with no say at all.
What Do You Need to Become Legal Resident?
The process of gaining legal residency status can take a long time, and the applicant has to demonstrate his eligibility and compliance with all the requirements. Again, while each country sets its own rules, the typical checklist includes the following items:
- Valid passport
- Proof of basis for residence (i.e. local employment, family ties, etc.)
- Proof of sufficient financial means
- Proof of accommodation
- Absence of criminal history
- Health insurance coverage
This goes to show how much different resident status is from a simple visit to a country. Nations are justified in wanting to know who exactly they are taking in, and hopeful residents have no choice but to comply fully and without withholding information.
How Fast Can You Acquire the Status of Legal Resident?
As with any other administrative process, the amount of time between applying for residency and the final decision can vary. The wheels of government move slowly, so some patience is recommended. On the other hand, applicants can speed up the process by preparing in advance, hiring specialists for translation and apostille services, and finding a permanent address in the country.
The length of the procedure means you can’t really become a legal resident on a whim. This is a serious long-term decision that should never be made lightly. No matter how much you enjoyed your vacation, dealing with legal issues related to permanent residency rights might be stressful so you should only do it if you are absolutely determined to stay.
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