11.08.2022
New residence permits issued in the European Union, as well as in Cyprus to non-EU citizens, reached pre-pandemic levels in 2021, according to data on first residence permits published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.
In 2021, 2,952,300 first residence permits (i.e. permits issued to a person for the first time) were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens. Their number increased by 31% (or 693,700) compared to 2020, reaching the pre-pandemic level observed in 2019 (2,955,300).
In total, 22,190 new residence permits were issued in Cyprus in 2021. Most of them were issued to citizens of Russia (3432), Syria (2929), India (2744), Nepal (2628), Philippines (1784), Sri Lanka. (1496) and Ukraine (1133).
A total of 16,910 new permits were issued in Cyprus in 2020 (mainly for citizens of India, Russia, Nepal, Syria, the Philippines and Sri Lanka). A total of 23,325 permits were issued in 2019 (mainly for citizens of India, Russia, Nepal, Syria, the Philippines and Sri Lanka).
A total of 9,800 new residence permits in Cyprus in 2021 were issued for employment reasons (mainly to citizens of Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India), 6,085 for other reasons, including international protection (mainly to citizens of Syria and Russia), 3 281 for educational reasons (mainly citizens of India, Nepal and Bangladesh) and 3,024 for family reasons (mainly citizens Russia and Ukraine).
The first residence permits issued in Poland
Employment reasons accounted for 45% of all first residence permits issued in 2021, with 1.3 million permits. This represents an increase of 47% (429,100 people) compared to 2020. This is also the highest number of permits issued for reasons of employment since the beginning of the time series.
Family reasons accounted for 24%, education for 12%, and other reasons, including international protection, for 19%.
In addition to the increase in the number of residence permits issued for work-related reasons, other main reasons also recorded an increase in 2021 compared to 2020: 42% for education-related reasons (an increase of 105,000), 14% for family circumstances . ( an increase of 88,600) and 15% for other reasons, including international protection (an increase of 71,000).
In 2021, Poland issued a third of all first residence permits issued in the EU to non-EU citizens (967,300 or 33% of the total number of permits issued in the EU), followed by Spain (371,800 or 13%) and France (285,200) . , or 10%).
The largest relative increase in the total number of permits issued in 2021 compared to 2020 was recorded in Italy by 159% (from 105,700 in 2020 to 274,100 in 2021). Italy is followed by Finland (up 132%, from 24,800 to 57,300) and Poland (up 62%, from 598,000 to 967,300).
The only decrease in the total number of permits issued in 2021 compared to 2020 was recorded in Germany (41% decrease from 312,700 in 2020 to 185,200 in 2021), Lithuania (7% decrease from 22,500 to 21 000) and Croatia (by 4%) will decrease from 35,100 to 33,600).
Reason for residence permit by country
Poland topped the list of first employment-related residence permits with 790,100 permits issued in 2021, representing 27% of all first permits issued in the EU, and was also the first country in the EU to issue residence permits for other reasons, with 120,500 permits (4%) issued in 2021.
France issued the most education-related permits (90,600 permits or 3%).
The EU countries with the highest number of permits issued for family reasons in 2021 were Spain (159,200 or 5%), Italy (120,500 or 4%) and France (93,300 or 3%).
