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) compared with 2020. It is also the highest number of permits issued for employment reasons since the beginning of the time series.
Family reasons accounted for 24%, education reasons for 12%, while other reasons, including international protection, accounted for 19%.
Besides the increase in the number of residence permits issued for employment-related reasons, the other main reasons recorded also an increase in 2021 compared with 2020: 42% for education-related reasons (+105,000), 14% for family reasons (+88,600) and 15% for other reasons, including international protection (+71,000).
In 2021, Poland issued a third of all first residence permits granted in the EU to non-EU citizens (967,300, or 33% of total 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 when compared with 2020 was recorded in Italy: +159% (from 105,700 in 2020 to 274,100 in 2021). Italy was followed by Finland (+132%; from 24,800 to 57,300) and Poland (+62%; from 598,000 to 967,300).
On the other hand, the only decreases in the total number of permits issued in 2021 when compared with 2020 were recorded in Germany (-41%; from 312,700 in 2020 to 185,200 in 2021), Lithuania (-7%; from 22,500 to 21,000) and Croatia (-4%; from 35,100 to 33,600).
Poland topped the list of employment-related first residence permits, with 790,100 permits issued in 2021, making up 27% of all first permits issued in the EU. 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%). Poland was also the top country in the EU issuing residence permits for other reasons, with 120,500 permits (4%) issued in 2021.
The top 10 citizenships granted permits in the EU accounted for 57% of all first residence permits issued in 2021.
875,800 Ukrainians received first residence permits in the EU countries in 2021, making them the largest citizenship group among all recipients (of which 83% were issued by Poland). Citizens of Morocco (150,100 permits, of which 50% were issued in Spain) and Belarus (149,000, of which 88% were issued in Poland) followed. Citizens of these countries accounted for 40% of all first residence permits issued in 2021.
Among the top 10 citizenships granted permits in the EU in 2021, employment was the main reason for permits issued to Ukrainians (88% of all first residence permits), Belarusians (47%), Indians (41%) and Russians (35%). Family was the prevailing reason for permits granted to Moroccans (59%), Brazilians (41%) and Turks (33%) and permits for education were primarily issued to Chinese (43%) and Americans (32%). Other reasons were predominant for Syrians (74%).
