Methodology

• Residence permits
• EU Blue cards
• Single Permits
• Authorisation for the purpose of the seasonal work
• Residence permits for intra-corporate transfer
• Residence permits - Students and Researchers

Residence permit statistics (RESPER) cover different types of permissions to stay issued by the reporting countries.

More specifically, they cover a wide range of permission to reside, such as:

• Residence permits: these are authorisations that are valid for at least 3 months and issued at the national level. They allow third-country nationals to reside legally in the country for specific reasons, such as family reunification, education, employment. For example, ‘first permits’, which are granted to newly arrived persons, are a measure of immigration flows. On the other hand, the total number of valid residence permits at the end of the year measures the immigration stock.
• Long-term permits: these are authorisations that are valid for 5 years or more and issued under either national or EU legal frameworks. They are a subcategory of residence permits valid at the end of the year.
• EU Blue Cards: these are a specific type of residence permit to highly skilled workers who meet certain criteria, such as having a highly qualified employment and advanced professional or higher education qualifications.
• Single permits: these are authorisations that are issued through a simplified procedure allowing its holder to reside and work in an EU country.
• Permit for intra-corporate transfers (ICT): these are issued to persons participating in international intra-corporate transfers, allowing them to be temporarily seconded to an EU-based branch of a corporation for occupational or training purposes.
• Authorisations for seasonal work: these are permits that allow the holder to reside in an EU country for seasonal employment. They include long-stay visas or seasonal worker permits, which entitle the holder to stay and work for more than 90 days in the EU.
• Other authorisations to reside:
  • granted for purposes such as research, studies, training, voluntary service, pupil exchange programs, educational projects, or au pairing
  • intra-EU mobility, meaning the movement of persons between EU countries is captured through specific procedures, such as ‘notifications’ from the EU country that issued the permit to the EU country to which the person moved.

• Enforcement of immigration legislation

Eurostat statistics on enforcement of immigration legislation concern non-EU citizens refused entry at external borders, apprehended as being illegally present on the territory of an EU Member State, who have been issued an order to leave an EU country, or who have been returned from an EU country following an order to leave.

Statistics on the enforcement of immigration legislation exclude outgoing asylum seekers who are transferred from one EU Member State to another under the mechanism established by the Dublin regulation (EU regulation 1560/2003 and EU regulation 604/2013); these cases are covered by Dublin statistics available in the database.

Data are entirely based on administrative sources and are provided mainly by interior ministries or related immigration agencies. Eurostat statistics on residence permits are collected on the basis of Article 6 of EU regulation 862/2007 on migration and international protection.

Statistics on the enforcement of immigration legislation are based on administrative data provided by national authorities in line with the requirements of EU regulation 862/2007 concerning statistics on migration and international protection. The compilation of these statistics draws on the terms used by the Schengen borders code, an EU code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (EU regulation 2016/399).