Does time under temporary protection in the EU count towards permanent residence? 2026 rules and what to do now

In brief: time spent under temporary protection in the EU does not, by itself, count towards the 5 years required for EU long-term resident status. This follows directly from Directive 2003/109/EC. To preserve the path to permanent residence, you should switch in good time to a national permit or an EU status — protection applies only until 4 March 2027.

What EU law says

Article 3(2)(b) of Directive 2003/109/EC expressly excludes from the scope of the long-term resident rules persons who "are authorised to reside on the basis of temporary protection or have applied for authorisation to reside on that basis and are awaiting a decision". In other words, temporary protection status falls outside this regime.

Article 4(1) requires "legal and continuous residence for five years immediately prior to the submission of the application". Since temporary protection is excluded by Article 3(2)(b), these years are not automatically added to the required 5 years at the pan-European level.

For reference: refugees and persons with subsidiary protection were included in the Directive separately (by Directive 2011/51/EU), but temporary protection has remained outside its scope.

Timeline: until when protection applies

• 4 June 2025 — the European Commission presented a package on the future of Ukrainians in the EU and proposed an extension of temporary protection.
• 13 June 2025 — member states unanimously agreed on the extension.
• 15 July 2025 — the Council of the EU formally adopted Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1460, extending temporary protection until 4 March 2027.
• 16 September 2025 — the Council of the EU adopted a recommendation on a coordinated transition from temporary protection to other statuses.

What the EU recommends doing now

The Council recommendation of 16 September 2025 calls on member states to allow Ukrainians to transition to:

• national residence permits — on the basis of work, study, research or family reunification;
• statuses under EU law — for example, the EU Blue Card (for the highly qualified), the single permit, status for students and researchers;
• where possible — national long-term resident status.

The key point: it is precisely such an "ordinary" residence permit, rather than temporary protection, that usually starts the countdown of years towards EU long-term resident status. Whether a specific national permit will count depends on how the country has implemented Directive 2003/109 (Art. 3(2)(e) allows certain temporary/seasonal permits to be excluded), so check this with the authorities of your country of residence. The transition should be arranged in good time, without waiting for March 2027.

An example of a country that already counts previous years

Czechia, by means of the law Lex Ukraine VII (adopted on 11 February 2025), introduced a special long-term residence permit for 5 years for Ukrainians under temporary protection. The main conditions:

• continuous temporary protection for 2 years as of 31 March 2025 (does not apply to persons under 18);
• economic self-sufficiency: taxable income from CZK 440,000 per year per person and +CZK 110,000 for each additional household member (for 2024);
• no criminal record, no receipt of humanitarian aid in a defined period (01.10.2024–31.03.2025), a valid travel document, registered accommodation;
• a two-stage procedure: expression of interest — 1–30 April 2025 (online), and then registration of the applications themselves — from September to December 2025.

Such a permit gives free access to the labour market and the possibility of applying for permanent residence in the future. More than 82,000 people expressed interest (about a quarter of all protection beneficiaries in Czechia), but the threshold is high: according to reports, of ~80,000 applicants, only about 15,000–17,000 met the conditions (in particular the income of CZK 440,000), and approximately 16,000 obtained the status. This is a national decision; in other countries the conditions are different — check the rules of your country of residence.

Action plan for Ukrainians

1. Do not rely on "accrued" years of protection — at EU level they do not count towards permanent residence.
2. Check the grounds for a national permit: official employment, study, research work, marriage/family.
3. Apply for a national permit or EU status in good time — preferably well before 4 March 2027, so that the countdown to long-term status starts earlier.
4. Check special national programmes (such as the Czech one) in your country of residence — and the application deadlines, which can be narrow.
5. Keep evidence of continuous residence: rental contracts, employment contracts, certificates — they will be needed to count the 5 years.

Rely on the rules in force as of 2026 and on official sources of your country of residence: a revision of Directive 2003/109 that would remove the exclusion of temporary protection has not yet been officially adopted.