In order to ensure that beneficiaries of international protection respect the authorised period of stay or residence in accordance with the relevant national, Union or international law, Council (18) should be amended to provide that the five-year period after which beneficiaries of international protection are eligible for Union long-term resident status should, in principle, be restarted each time a beneficiary of international protection is found in a Member State other than the Member State that granted that beneficiary international protection without a right to stay or to reside there.
18. Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents (OJ L 16, 23.1.2004, p. 44). ↩︎