Let’s say I have a temporary residence permit in Portugal. Can I apply and be granted a work/study permit in another EU country? Or does the EU overarching legislation or legislation of any EU country you’re aware of prohibit such a thing? I’m asking because I have read on forums that applicants for Portuguese golden visa permits have been told by their lawyers that the EU does not allow dual temporary residence permits regardless of whether the holder would be able to satisfy the minimum in-country presence requirements for both permits. It’s just not allowed, period. Is that so?
As a long-term resident in one EU country, can I live and work in a second EU country?
Yes. You can stay in a second EU country for more than three months for purposes including work, study or training, if you apply for and are granted a residence permit in this second country.
The long-term residence in this article seems to be referring to permanent residence permit, not temporary residence permit to which the golden visa permit belongs: " If you have stayed legally in an EU country for five years, you may be entitled to be given a “long-term resident” status there."; this clearly describes the permanent residence permit. So it doesn’t answer my specific question unfortunately
That Mercan lawyer FUD just won’t die - they reported one anecdote about Austria refusing a student permit to a child of a Portugal ARI family, and warn about “EU law” which prohibits multiple temporary permits 
This has been discussed earlier.
I have an equal and opposite anecdote: kid with a dependent GV permit got a student permit from the Netherlands. The Dutch university admission form specifically asked, “OK you’re a third country non-EU national, do you by any chance have a permit from an EU country? You do? Great, upload a copy here. You won’t need an MVV visa to enter the Netherlands, just get in here and make an appointment with the IND for your student permit” and the IND office in Amsterdam asked for passport, existing permit, university admission and issued a student permit after a few weeks.
I have first-hand knowledge of two cases of students from two different PT ARI families belonging to two different countries getting NL student permits. Similar procedures apply for work permits in the Netherlands as well, though I have no first-hand knowledge.
Some EU countries may have problematic rules, but I am convinced that there is no overarching EU rule which disallows this, and no one has ever cited an authoritative source for such a rule.
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Also: in the same “Already in the EU?” link shared above, look at the section “Moving between EU countries”
Going to another EU country during my long-term stay – more than 90 days
[…]
If your long-stay visa or residence permit has been issued by a Schengen area country, you can travel to another Schengen area country for 90 days per 180 day period.
[…]
To move from one EU country to another for more than 90 days, you will need a long-stay visa or a residence permit for that country. If you wish to work, study or join your family in the second country, you may have to fulfil more conditions.
If this was straight-out disallowed it would be mentioned here. Temporary permits are purpose and country specific. If you have two compatible purposes in two countries, you’re going to need appropriate permits in both 
Consider a non-EU family which relocated to France because one parent got deputed to Paris on an intra company transferee permit and the others got dependent permits. It would be bizarre if the kid was admitted to a German university but refused a German study permit just because his parent has an ICT or high-skill work permit inside the EU, but would have been granted a study permit if the family had continued in the home country.
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A lot to think about. Thank you for the input. Especially relieved that there actually exist real-life cases that counter the lawyers’ info
More likely scenario is they can get the German study permit but will lose their other permit in the process (eg they can’t study in Germany and simultaneously count that time towards naturalizing in Portugal)
Except with the GV, you can, as long as you spend the minimum 7 days per year in Portugal. With other types of permit you may not be able to meet the minimum stay requirement for a citizenship application (although study is sometimes regarded as a justified reason for being overseas), but I wouldn’t have thought you’d lose the permit.
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Consider these scenarios for the holder of a dependent Portuguese GV
- Studying in home country, spends 7 days a year in PT.
- Studying in foreign non-EU country, spends 7 days a year in PT.
- Studying in Germany with Germany study permit, spends 7 days a year in PT.
For naturalization in PT, IMO these scenarios are identical. I don’t see why 3 would be treated differently from 1 and 2 (which are valid by the basic definition of the GV). My Portuguese lawyers are of the same opinion.
For other kinds of permits other rules may apply. In the other case I mentioned - dependent permit holder in France going to study in Germany - what you say sounds right. Student gets a student permit from Germany, but since they’re no longer resident in France as a dependent, their family probably needs to report this change of residence (as there is no sponsor like a university or employer), which would cause the French permit to become invalid.
In the example you give though, students often spend their holidays at home. They may only be spending, say, 35 weeks in the country where they’re studying, and the rest at home with their parents. In Hong Kong for example, periods of time spent studying overseas are disregarded when it comes to an application for permanent residence in HK, as long as the student’s family has remained in HK and they can arguably say it’s their home.
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