PF: Can a third-country national be considered as a long-term resident in EU Member States or Associated countries if they have resided in the UK before the date of its association to Horizon Europe and then moved to their home country for 5 months?

Once a country is associated to Horizon Europe, any period spent in that country (independently of the date of association to Horizon Europe) may be counted towards the calculation of the ‘long-term residence’. Therefore, the time spent in the UK when it was not associated counts towards the five-year requirement.

Applicants can check this FAQ. 

PF: Can the 5 years of legal and continuous residence within EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries be spent at two (or more) EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries?

The rule says “within EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries” which means they can stay in more than one country as long as they stayed more than 5 years with no breaks more than 3 months at once and 10 months in total. Moreover, the applicant does not have to possess the official long-term residency status.

PF: Given that the UK has associated to Horizon Europe, how will time spent in the UK during the non-association be treated for the purpose of establishing long-term residence for the 2024 MSCA Global Fellowship call?

According to the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2025 “Long-term residence means a period of legal and continuous residence within EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries of at least five consecutive years. Periods of absence from the territory of the EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country will be taken into account for the calculation of this period where they are shorter than six consecutive months and do not exceed in total ten months within this period.”

As long as these conditions are met, the researcher could be considered eligible, provided that all the other eligibility conditions are also met.

Due to the entry into force of the UK withdrawal agreement as of 1 February 2020, periods from this date until the effective Horizon Europe association of the UK as of 1 January 2024 cannot be considered as valid to acquire the long-term residence within the meaning of the MSCA Work Programme.

 

PF: What kind of documentation can be used by beneficiaries to verify long-term residency?

As a very general principle, whatever supporting document is able to demonstrate with a reasonable level of certainty that someone is continuously legally residing in a EU Member State or a Horizon Europe Associated Country in a 5 years’ period, would be acceptable. To this purpose, a good advice for a beneficiary could be to request and verify the consistency between documents of different nature, for example registration in the national registry of the population, records of the police registration, utilities bills, etc.

PF: If a potential applicant has resided for more than five years in a EU Member State/ Horizon Europe Associated Country and then moves to a third country, do they lose the long-term resident status if the period in the third country is longer than 10 months?

The cumulative 10 months are to be counted within the five years’ period and not afterwards. This means that if an applicant fits the eligibility of five years spent in a EU Member State/ Horizon Europe Associated Country (with short interruptions of less than 6 months and not exceeding 10 months) at any time of their lives, they are considered eligible for long-term residence.

PF: What documentation is required to prove that a Postdoctoral applicant meets the 5+ years long-term residency requirement for a Global Fellowship if they are not a national of an MS/AC? Is it necessary to include these documents in the proposal?

The eligibility will be assessed by REA based on the information applicants include in Part A, and the CV. They do not need to provide additional documentation either at the application stage or during the GAP. If the project is audited, then the auditor will ask to see proof of their eligibility. This could be any formal documents that clearly demonstrate they were residing in a EU MS/AC or are nationals of an EU MS/AC.

PF: How do applicants calculate Long term residency when they have had extended periods of field work?

Extended periods of field work will be taken into account to add up to long term residency, if they are shorter than six consecutive months and do not exceed in total ten months within the long-term residence period.