Poland issued the highest number of first residence permits related to employment in 2021 – a total of 790,100 of those, representing 27 per cent of all permits issued in the EU Member States, while France issued three per cent of all education-related permits, representing a total of 90,600.
According to the European Office for Statistics, Eurostat, the main reason for Poland being a leading country for issuing the most first-residence permits this year were the agreements with Ukraine, from which 666,300 citizens came to the European country.
This number represented 87 per cent of Ukrainians’ first residence permits issued for employment reasons in 2021.
Furthermore, the countries that issued the most permits for family reasons were Spain with 159,200 or five per cent of the total and Italy with 120,500, representing four per cent of all permits issued for such matters.
France issued 90,600 first residence permits for family reunions, representing three per cent of all permits issued and also listing the country as third for issuing the most first-residence permits for applications on family reunion grounds.
Moreover, these rates represented 26 per cent of all the permits issued for education-related reasons in the EU and 32 per cent of the total number of permits issued in France.
Except for being the main issuing country for residence permits granted for employment, Poland was also the top country in the bloc to issue residence permits for other reasons, including protection, as it issued 120,500 permits, or four per cent of the total issued in 2021.
As per the countries that issued more residence permits for other reasons, including here protection, Austria was a leading country, as it accounted for more than half (52 per cent) of the total number of permits issued at a national level. The same happened in Germany, where first residence permits were issued mainly to those applying for other reasons (40 per cent) such as protection, excluding permits issued for family reunions, employment, and education.
As Eurostat data shows, the number of first-residence permits also increased in 2021, after experiencing a sharp decline in the previous year linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, 2.9 million first residence permits were issued in the EU in 2021, up by 31 per cent from the previous year – accounting for 693,700 additional permits granted.
Only 3,000 more first residence permits were issued at pre-pandemic levels, indicating that the trend can be on the rise in the upcoming years.
