Three different milestones
Temporary or ordinary residence is the permission or legal basis under which you live in a country. Permanent residence or settlement is a more durable status that can have its own residence-duration, income, language, integration and absence conditions. Citizenship is nationality and is governed by a separate legal test. Reaching a number of years does not automatically move you from one status to the next.
How the timeline calculation works
The tool adds the published residence-duration milestone to the start date you enter. That produces a planning date, not a guaranteed eligibility date. It cannot know whether every day of your residence is legally countable, whether absences interrupt continuity, whether a particular permit category qualifies, or whether you meet language, conduct, income, integration or application requirements.
Worked example
If a route has a five-year residence-duration requirement and qualifying residence begins on 15 September 2026, the simple milestone is 15 September 2031. But an extended absence, a period on a non-qualifying status, or a country-specific rule about how years are counted may move or invalidate that date. Citizenship can have a longer or entirely different residence test.
Continuous residence is not just a stopwatch
Many systems distinguish short permitted absences from interruptions that reset or break continuity. EU-law permanent residence for EU citizens, for example, is based on legal continuous residence and has rules about absences. National settlement and nationality laws can use different tests. Keep records of permits, registrations, travel and address history rather than relying on a calendar calculation alone.
Special routes
Marriage, ancestry, refugees, former citizens, children, investment or exceptional-contribution routes can have different tests. The calculator should not invent a generic shortcut where there is no single duration rule in the source data.
FAQ
Does the date mean I automatically qualify?
No. It is the residence-duration milestone only.
Can permanent residence and citizenship fall on the same date?
Sometimes duration rules can align, but the legal tests remain separate and other requirements may differ.
What date should I enter?
Use the date from which the relevant country treats your qualifying legal residence as beginning, not merely a flight date or employment-offer date.