Eurostat release on residence permits issued to non-EU citizens in 2009
Date Published: 26-09-2011
In 2009, EU Member States issued about 2.3 million new residence permits to non-EU citizens, which represents a decline of about 0.2 million compared with 2008.
Key findings:
The highest numbers of new permits were issued for the following reasons:
- Family reunification and formation (28.2%)
- Employment (27.6%)
- Education (21.8%)
Overall, the main groups of non-EU citizens in receipt of new permits were:
- Indian nationals (191,000)
- US nationals (175,000)
- Chinese nationals (171,000)
- Moroccan nationals (158,000)
EU Members States that granted the largest number of permits included:
- UK (671,000)
- Italy (507,000)
- Spain (291,000)
- Italy (193,000)
Ireland issued a total of 25,509 first residence permits during 2009:
- Education reasons (12,263)
- Other reasons (5,811)
- Employment reasons (4,827)
- Family reasons (2,608)
The largest group of non-EU citizens in receipt of new residence permits in Ireland included:
- US (3,963)
- Brazil (2,787)
- India (1,950)
- China (1,943)
- Nigeria (1,221)