In 2025, EU countries issued about 3.9 million first residence permits to third-country nationals, which is 10.1%, or 355,350, more than in 2024.
This was the highest figure since Eurostat began keeping comparative statistics in 2008.
Labor migration was the main growth factor. The number of first work-related permits increased over the year by 179.7 thousand, or 16.1%, and reached about 1.3 million. Work accounted for 33.6% of all issued first residence permits.
The number of family-related permits increased by 14.1% — to about 1.1 million, or 28.1% of the total number.
Another 600,000 residence permits, or 15.5%, were related to education. Their number increased by 9%.
About 22.8% of permits were issued on other grounds, including international protection. In this category, the number of residence permits decreased by 0.9%.
The largest group of recipients of the first permits were citizens of Ukraine — 335,100, followed by India with 227,600 and Morocco with 202,100.
The leader among EU countries in terms of the total number of new permits was Spain, which issued 635,400 permits for residence.
The data do not include persons who have temporary protection, in particular millions of Ukrainians who left the country after the start of a full-scale war.
