The owner of the real estate property and his family members are not affected by the duration of the processing of their application, from the moment the application is submitted to the relevant authorities until the issuing of a decision by the secretary general of the decentralized authority regarding their resident permit. After the application has been submitted, the applicants receive a receipt confirming the submission of the application, which is valid for one year. The time required to process the application depends on the authority where it has been submitted, yet it may not exceed two months after all the necessary documents have reached the competent authority. The third-country citizens who have submitted an application and received the confirmation receipt described above (blue card) can reside legally in the country for the duration of the confirmation receipt (one year). The holders of the confirmation receipt are entitled to the benefits of the resident permit that they have applied for.
