A residence permit (less commonly residency permit) is a document or card required in some regions, allowing a foreign national to reside in a country for a fixed or indefinite length of time. These may be permits for temporary residency, or permanent residency. The exact rules vary between regions. In some cases (e.g. the UK) a temporary residence permit is required to extend a stay past some threshold, and can be an intermediate step to applying for permanent residency. Residency status may be granted for a number of reasons and the criteria for acceptance as a resident may change over time. In New Zealand the current range of conditions include being a skilled migrant, a retired parent of a New Zealand national, an investor and a number of others.

Biometric residence permit

Some countries have adopted biometric residence permits, which are cards including embedded machine readable information and RFID NFC capable chips.

In Germany

See German residence permit

In France

See Permanent residency in France

In Italy

In Italy the permesso di soggiorno is released by the Polizia di Stato 'state police'; it must be requested by the immigrant to be allowed to reside in the country for more than eight days, or more than ninety days if having a visto d'ingresso 'travel visa' for tourism. It is not required for EU citizens.

In Singapore

See Permanent residency in Singapore

In Ukraine

In Ukraine there are two types of residence permits: temporary residence permit and permanent residence permit. Temporary residence permit is issued, in general, for a period of 1 year provided that there is at least one of legal grounds for temporary stay in Ukraine. Permanent residence equals to immigration.

In the United Kingdom

Biometric Residence permit, a type of card in lieu of visa which allows a non-British citizen to work & reside in the UK. Biometric Residence card, a type of card which allows European Union Settlement Scheme holders to work & reside in the UK. Both card will be replace by share code in 2025.

In the United States

See Permanent residence (United States)

In Saudi Arabia

See Premium Residency