EU THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS

[joshuaspirit]

How does the COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2003/109/EC OF [adoption: consultation CNS/2001/0074] 12.02.2004 23.01.2006 OJ l 16 of 23.01.2004 affect a third-country national in the United Kingdom.
Is this directive already functioning in the UK, and how should one apply himself to it, since most offices seem ignorant about it.

[tt]

The UK, Ireland and Denmark opted out of this Directive, as you will see in its preamble.

So a third-country national who is resident in the UK (Ireland or Denmark) won't be able to rely on it. Only the other EU countries can issue a "long-term resident's EC resident permit" for you, which will then, under this Directive enable you to take full advantage of the rights created by it.

Of course, you would need to be resident 5 years in any of those other EU countries first.

Also, this thread might be of use to you - and its provisos. http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=10136