Short answer
An EU citizen may enter another Member State with a valid identity card or passport and reside there for up to three months without economic conditions, provided the person does not become an unreasonable burden on the host State's social-assistance system. For residence beyond three months, the citizen normally must be a worker or self-employed person, have sufficient resources and comprehensive sickness insurance, be an enrolled student with insurance and sufficient resources, or be a qualifying family member accompanying or joining such a citizen.
Worker status can survive temporary illness, involuntary unemployment and specified vocational training. Family rights can survive death, departure or divorce under detailed conditions. Five years of continuous legal residence normally produces a permanent right no longer dependent on work, resources or insurance. Documents usually evidence these rights; they do not create a right whose substantive conditions already exist.
Loss is not automatic after a job ends, benefits are claimed or a relationship changes. Authorities must identify the legal category, retained-status rule, duration and personal circumstances. A temporary social-assistance claim cannot by itself trigger expulsion. Permanent residence is generally lost only after more than two consecutive years outside the host State. Fraud, abuse and public-policy restrictions follow separate, proportionate rules.
First ask whether EU free-movement law applies
Directive 2004/38/EC principally governs an EU citizen who moves to or resides in a Member State other than the State of nationality, and family members who accompany or join that citizen. A citizen living only in the State of nationality is usually outside the Directive. EU law can still apply when a citizen returns home after genuinely residing in another Member State, or exceptionally where refusing a third-country carer's residence would force a dependent EU citizen to leave the Union entirely.
The EU citizen holds the primary right; a third-country family member normally derives one. Registration or a residence card may be required after three months, but the document is not the right's source. Missing formalities permit proportionate sanctions, not automatic removal where conditions exist.
The first three months
Article 6 grants initial residence with a valid identity card or passport. A non-EU family member needs a passport and any required visa, but must have a reasonable opportunity to obtain documents or prove the right before entry is refused.
The citizen need not already work, study or prove a fixed resources amount during this period. The person and family members retain the right while they do not become an unreasonable burden on social assistance. Workers, self-employed people and genuine jobseekers receive additional Treaty protection.
Workers and self-employed people
Residence beyond three months is unconditional as to resources for a worker or self-employed citizen. “Worker” is an autonomous EU concept: the person performs services for and under another's direction for remuneration. Work must be genuine and effective rather than purely marginal or ancillary. Low pay, part-time hours or wages below a national subsistence level do not alone prevent worker status.
Article 7(3) preserves status during temporary illness or accident. After more than one year of work, duly recorded involuntary unemployment preserves it while the person is a registered jobseeker. Unemployment during the first year preserves it for at least six months. Vocational training also qualifies; after voluntary unemployment, it normally must relate to previous work.
Ending a job does not end residence before the retained-worker rules are examined. —
A person who enters to seek work cannot be expelled while able to show continuing job search and a genuine chance of engagement. That protection does not necessarily create equal access to every social-assistance benefit. In Alimanovic, C-67/14, the Court upheld benefit limits tied to the Directive's defined retained-worker periods.
Self-sufficient people and students
A non-working citizen can reside beyond three months by holding sufficient resources not to become an unreasonable burden and comprehensive sickness insurance in the host State. Resources may come from the citizen, a partner or another source; EU law does not require the citizen personally to earn them. The State cannot impose a fixed amount higher than the social-assistance threshold or minimum social-security pension relevant to the person's circumstances.
An assistance claim is not conclusive. Brey, C-140/12, requires assessment of whether difficulty is temporary, residence duration, personal circumstances and aid amount, except where the Directive itself fixes a category and consequence.
A student must be enrolled at an accredited establishment for the principal purpose of study, have comprehensive sickness insurance, and assure the authority—by declaration or equivalent means—that sufficient resources are available. A State cannot routinely demand a single prescribed form of proof beyond the Directive.
Which family members derive rights?
Automatic family members are a spouse; an equivalent registered partner; direct descendants under 21 or dependent descendants; and dependent direct ascendants. Nationality is irrelevant.
In Coman, C-673/16, “spouse” for the derived residence right included a same-sex spouse lawfully married in another State, even though the host State did not itself provide same-sex marriage. The ruling required recognition for free-movement residence, not general alteration of national family law.
The host State must facilitate entry and residence for other dependent or household family members, relatives requiring the citizen's personal care for serious health reasons, and a partner with a duly attested durable relationship. These are not automatic rights: the authority must conduct an extensive personal examination and justify refusal.
Death, departure and relationship breakdown
An EU-citizen family member retains an independent right after death or departure by personally meeting an Article 7 category. A third-country family member normally must have lived there for one year before death and then meet the economic conditions personally or through the family.
Children enrolled in education and the parent with actual custody do not lose residence solely because the worker or citizen dies or leaves; their right lasts until completion of studies. Baumbast, C-413/99, recognised the child's education right and the primary carer's corresponding residence where needed to make it effective.
After divorce or termination of a registered partnership, an EU-citizen family member relies on a personal Article 7 category. A third-country spouse or partner can retain residence where, before proceedings began, the marriage or partnership lasted at least three years including one in the host State; the person has custody or court-ordered access there; or particularly difficult circumstances such as domestic violence justify retention. Economic or family conditions generally apply until permanent residence is acquired.
Permanent residence after five years
Five years of continuous legal residence under the Directive gives the EU citizen permanent residence. Family members residing legally with the citizen acquire it on the same timeline, subject to special rules for death or retirement. “Legal” normally means compliance with the Directive's substantive conditions, not merely physical presence or a mistakenly issued card.
Continuity is not broken by temporary absences of up to six months a year, longer compulsory military service, or one absence of up to 12 consecutive months for important reasons such as pregnancy, childbirth, serious illness, study, vocational training or a posting. Some workers acquire permanent residence earlier on retirement, permanent incapacity or cross-border work under Article 17.
Permanent residence is lost only through more than two consecutive years' absence from the host State. —
Once acquired, permanent residence is no longer conditional on work, resources or comprehensive insurance and carries equal-treatment protection.
Derivative residence outside the Directive
Article 20 TFEU exceptionally protects the substance of EU citizenship where refusing a third-country national residence would compel a dependent EU citizen to leave the Union. Chavez-Vilchez, C-133/15, requires a concrete assessment of a child's dependency, care, age, emotional ties and best interests. The theoretical availability of another EU-citizen parent is not enough.
This narrow safety net is not general family reunification. Departure from the Union must be practically unavoidable; ordinary family-life arguments may instead fall under national law or other rights instruments.
When a conditional right can end
Authorities may verify conditions where there is reasonable doubt, but verification cannot be systematic. If a person no longer fits any current or retained category and lacks permanent residence, the host State may find that the right ended. It must still follow procedural safeguards and proportionality; recourse to social assistance does not automatically lead to expulsion.
Article 35 permits proportionate measures against abuse or fraud, such as a marriage of convenience, with individual examination and safeguards. Article 27 separately governs restrictions for public policy, public security and public health. Neither route permits removal simply to deter lawful reliance on EU rights.
Practical assessment
Build a dated residence history showing entry, registration, work and interruptions, unemployment registration, study, insurance, resources, assistance, family events and absences. Identify a primary and alternative legal basis for every period. For permanent residence, prove five years category by category rather than relying only on address records.
Conclusion
EU residence rights develop in stages: simple entry and short residence, conditional residence beyond three months, retained status during defined transitions, and permanent residence after five lawful years. Family and derivative rights follow their own continuity rules. The decisive analysis is chronological and categorical; job loss, benefit use, divorce or a missing card is a fact to assess, not an automatic end to residence.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.