EU Member States issued 2.3 million first residence permits in 2014 - Products Euro Indicators

In 2014, 2.3 million first residence permits were issued in the European Union (EU) to non-EU citizens, a number slightly lower than in 2013 (-2.2%) and down by 9.0% compared with 2008. The decrease recorded from 2008 is mainly due to a fall in the number of first permits issued for employment reasons (from 0.8 million in 2008 to nearly 0.6 million last year). In 2014, almost a third (29.5%) of first residence permits were issued in the EU for family reasons, a quarter each for employment (24.8%) and other reasons (25.0%) and a fifth (20.7%) for education.