(22 October 2014) – In 2013, 2.36 million first residence permits were issued in the EU28 to non-EU citizens, up by 12.5% compared with 2012 but down by 7.0% compared with 2008.
28.5% of first residence permits were issued for family reasons, 19.7% for education, 22.7% for employment reasons and 29.1% for other reasons.
The highest number of residence permits was reported by the United Kingdom (724 200 residence permits issued, or 30.7% of total permits issued in the EU28), followed by Poland (273 900, or 11.6%), Italy (244 000, or 10.3%), France (212 100, or 9.0%), Germany (199 900, or 8.5%) and Spain (196 200, or 8.3%). Together, these six Member States accounted for almost 80% of all residence permits issued in the EU28 in 2013.
Compared with the population of each Member State, the highest rates of first residence permits issued in 2013 were recorded in Malta (24.1 first permits issued per thousand inhabitants), Cyprus (13.3), the United Kingdom5 (11.3) and Sweden (10.3). Rates below 1 permit per thousand inhabitants were observed in four Member States: Romania (0.6), Croatia and Slovakia (both 0.8) and Bulgaria (0.9).
In 2013, citizens of Ukraine (236 700 beneficiaries, or 10.0% of the total number of new residence permits issued in the EU28) received the highest number of permits, ahead citizens of India (200 800, or 8.5%), of the United States (171 800, or 7.3%) and of China (165 600, or 7.0%). A third of all new residence permits issued in the EU28 in 2013 was issued to citizens of these four countries.