ExpatBriefing: EU Welcomed A Record Number Of Non-EU Nationals In 2016

By Haruna Kobayashi, for ExpatBriefing.com 18 December, 2017

Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, says a record 3.4 million first-time permits were issued to non-EU residents by EU states in 2016.

This was a 28 percent increase compared with the previous year and the highest since reporting began in 2008.

This equates to 6.5 permits issued per one thousand inhabitants across the EU. About half of all first-time permits were issued to citizens of either Ukraine, Syria, the United States, India, or China.

The UK issued the most permits, accounting for over 25 percent of the total number of EU permits. It attracted 53 percent of those moving to the EU for education. Over half of EU-bound citizens from the US, India, and China headed for British shores, with the largest number of US and Chinese citizens doing so for education and most Indians doing so for either family or employment reasons.

Poland granted the second highest number of permits (17 percent) and 58 percent of those persons moved to the EU for employment.

Of the almost 350,000 Syrians who received permits from EU states, over 220,000 were issued by Germany, making up 45 percent of permits the country granted.

Tags: Expatriates | India | Syria | Accounting | China | Education | Germany | Poland | United States | Ukraine | Expats | Europe |