The number increased 0.4% compared with 2017, continuing the upward trend observed in each of the three previous years. Family reasons accounted for almost 28% of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2018, employment reasons for 27%, education reasons for 20%, while other reasons, including international protection, accounted for 24%.
The increase in the total number of first residence permits in 2018 in comparison with 2017 was mainly due to the increasing number of first permits issued for education reasons (up 110 000, or 21%) and family reasons (up 83 000, or 10%), whereas the number of first permits issued for employment reasons decreased 124 000 (-12%) and for other reasons 56 000 (-7%).
Highest number of first residence permits issued in Poland, Germany and the United Kingdom
In 2018, one out of five first residence permits was issued in Poland (635 000, or 20% of total permits issued in the EU), followed Germany (544 000, or 17%), the United Kingdom (451 000, or 14%), France (265 000, or 8%), Spain (260 000, also 8%), Italy (239 000, or 7%) and Sweden (125 000, or 4%). Compared to the population of each Member State, the highest rates of first resident permits issued in 2018 were recorded in Malta (35 permits issued per thousand population), Cyprus (24), Poland (17), Slovenia (14) and Luxembourg (13).
For the EU as a whole in 2018, 6 first residence permits were issued per thousand population.
For employment in Poland, for education in the United Kingdom
Poland with 328 000 permits (or 37% of all permits issued for employment reasons in the EU in 2018) was the top country for employment related permits. The United Kingdom with 190 000 permits (or 30%) was the top country in the EU for education related reasons.
With 100 000 or more permits each, Germany (191 000, or 21%), Spain (134 000, or 15%), Italy (122 000, or 13%) and the United Kingdom (101 000, or 11%) were the four Member States with the highest number of permits issued for family reasons in 2018.
Germany was also the top country in the EU for other reasons with 219 000 permits (28%), issued in 2018, of which the majority were for refugee status and subsidiary protection (185 000) and protection for humanitarian reasons (23 000).
Employment reasons tend to prevail across individual Member States
In 2018, in thirteen Member States, the largest numbers of permits were issued for employment reasons, with the highest shares observed in Croatia (90% of all residence permits issued in this country), Lithuania (77%), Slovenia (71%) and Slovakia (66%).
In ten Member States, the main reason for issuing residence permits was family related, with the highest shares being recorded in Spain (52% of all residence
ermits issued in this
country), Italy (51%) and Belgium (50%). Education was the main reason in Ireland (60% of all residence permits issued in this country) and the United Kingdom (42%).
The share of other reasons (including international protection) was highest in three Member States: Austria (54% of all residence permits issued in this country), Bulgaria (44%) and Germany (40%).
About half of residence permits granted to ten citizenships
In 2018, citizens of Ukraine (527 000 beneficiaries, of which almost 78% in Poland) continued to receive the highest number of permits in the EU, ahead of citizens of China (206 000, of which almost half in the United Kingdom), India (197 000, of which 38% in the United Kingdom), Syria (174 000, of which 71% in Germany), Belarus (138 000, of which 92% in Poland), Morocco (127 000, of which 45% in Spain), the United States (120 000, of which 36% in the United Kingdom), Brazil (88 000, of which 32% in Portugal),Turkey (80 000, of which 29% in Germany) and Russia (75 000, of which 18% in Germany).
About half (54%) of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2018 were issued to citizens of these ten countries.
Ukrainians for employment, Chinese for education and Moroccans for family reasons
The reasons for residence permits being issued differ between citizenships.
Among the top 10 citizenships granted permits in the EU in 2018, Ukrainians benefited from residence permits mainly for employment reasons (65% of all first residence permits issued to Ukrainians in 2018), Chinese for education (67%), while Moroccans (61%) benefited from residence permits issued family reasons. Other reasons were predominant among Belarusians (74%) and Syrians (68%). ■