The European Commission this week launched legal action against 17 member states over the application of the new directive on the single permit, a combined procedure that grants third country nationals both a work and residence permit instead of applying separately for them.
The single permit directive was first adopted in 2011 and was revised in 2024 as part of plans to make Europe more attractive to non-EU workers.
The new rules had to be incorporated into national legislation by May 21st 2026. But the Commission said 17 member states – Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden – have failed to communicate its “complete transposition” by the deadline.
The Commission sent letters of formal notice urging countries to take action, the first step in a legal procedure that could see them taken to the EU Court of Justice. The countries have now two months to respond and notify the transposition of updated single permit rules into national measures.
No longer tied to one employer
In 2024, more than 4.6 million non-EU citizens obtained the right to reside and work in the EU through the single permit procedure, according to the EU statistical office, Eurostat.
Based on the revised directive, workers will no longer be tied to the employer who sponsored them first, but will be able to change job, employer and work sector, under certain conditions, with a notification from the new employer to the competent authorities.
Unlike now, it will also be possible to apply for the single permit from a third country or from within the EU, if the applicant already has a valid residence permit. The deadline for national authorities to decide on applications has been shortened to 90 days instead of the current 120.
Single permit holders who lose their job will be able to stay in the EU country where they live for three months while the permit is valid (previously it was two months), or six months if they have been in the country for more than two years, to find another job. Each state can however decide to offer longer periods.
Isabelle Barthès, deputy general secretary of IndustriALL, a federation of independent trade unions in the EU, said the single permit is a “very important legislation as skill shortages are met in many countries with third-country workers.”
“The big concern is that we have to ensure that there are fair working conditions for third country nationals, and that workers are less dependent from their employers because this is what is leading to exploitation and abuse,” she argued.
“It is quite concerning to see that so few countries have transposed the directive. It shows that, at the end of the day, it is not a top priority for them,” she added.
The single permit directive does not apply in Denmark and Ireland because both countries have opted out from EU policies on justice and migration.
