Poland Ranks Third in the EU for Number of Residence Permits Issued: An EU Report on Migration

The Eurostat report

The Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), one of the departments of the European Commission responsible for collecting, compiling, and disseminating statistics on the European Union and its member states, has published data on residence permits for third-country nationals. The data refer to 2025 and cover first residence permits, that is, permits that member states issued to a given person, as a rule, for the first time. Eurostat also discussed them in greater detail, taking into account the situation in individual member states and the breakdown of permits by reason for issuance and by the citizenship and sex of their recipients.

According to Eurostat’s study, in 2025 member states issued around 3.9 million first residence permits, the highest figure since these statistics began to be collected in 2008, with a marked increase—of 14.1%—in the number of permits granted for family reasons. Poland, which only a few years ago led the European Union in the number of permits issued, recorded yet another decline, while in Portugal the number of first permits rose more than two-and-a-half-fold. In the realities of the Schengen Area, this raises the question of whether the decisions of a single member state remain solely its internal affair.

Residence permits and temporary protection

The data presented by Eurostat contain several important pieces of information. First of all, it should be noted that in 2025 the member states of the European Union issued a total of approximately 3.9 million first residence permits, i.e., 355,350 more than in the previous year. It is worth explaining here that the English term residence permit, rendered in the Polish versions of EU legal acts on migration statistics as “zezwolenie na pobyt,” was defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002 of June 13, 2002, laying down a uniform format for residence permits for third-country nationals. In the Polish language version of the regulation, it corresponds to the term “dokument pobytowy” (residence document), which, under Art. 1(2)(a), is to be understood as an authorization issued by the authorities of a member state allowing a third-country national to stay legally on its territory. Visas and permits issued pending examination of an application for a residence permit, among others, are excluded from the scope of this definition.

The “first residence permit” (first residence permit or new residence permit in EU terminology), in turn, is a statistical category. It is referred to in Art. 6(1)(a)(i) of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, which, however, does not define it; the detailed criteria are set by Eurostat. For the purposes of its statistics, Eurostat includes only permits valid for at least three months and regards as a first permit one issued to a given person for the first time or at least six months after the expiry of the previous one. This means that the data under discussion do not include permits renewed without a break of at least six months.

It should also be borne in mind that statistics on residence permits do not cover persons benefiting from temporary protection, including Ukrainian citizens staying in various member states as a result of Russia’s aggression against their country. This mechanism is regulated by Council Directive 2001/55/EC of July 20, 2001, which in Art. 2(a) defines it as a procedure of an exceptional character applied in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced persons from third countries who are unable to return to their country of origin. Its purpose is to provide such persons with immediate protection, in particular where there is a risk that the asylum system will be unable to cope with the situation without adverse effects on its functioning. According to Eurostat data, as of June 30 of this year, 4.41 million people in the European Union were covered by it, the largest numbers being in Germany (1,286,230, or 29.2% of the total), Poland (961,170, or 21.8%), and Czechia (390,810, or 8.9%). The actual number of third-country nationals legally residing in the Union is therefore considerably higher than the number of permits issued alone would suggest.

A record year. What do the data show?

As the detailed Eurostat overview shows, the most common reason for issuing first residence permits in 2025 was employment (1.3 million permits, or 33.6% of the total). Family reasons came second (1.1 million, 28.1%), and so-called other reasons, which include, among others, international protection, came third (0.9 million, 22.8%). The remaining 15.5%, or around 0.6 million permits, were issued for education. It is also worth noting the dynamics of the individual categories. Compared with 2024, the number of employment-related permits rose by 16.1%, family-related permits by 14.1%, and education-related permits by 9.0%. The only category to record a decline (of 0.9%) was other reasons, including international protection. The increase in the total number of permits was thus the result of growth in labor, family, and education migration.

These permits are distributed very unevenly across the Union. Five member states—Spain (635,438), Germany (605,292), Poland (467,314), Italy (433,099), and France (377,462)—together issued 65.2% of all first permits. Relative to population, however, the picture is completely different. On average, 9 first permits per 1,000 inhabitants were issued across the Union, while the rate was 57 in Malta, 47 in Cyprus, and 27 in Portugal. The lowest level, 4 permits per 1,000 inhabitants, was recorded in Slovakia, Czechia, Romania, Estonia, and Bulgaria.

Among those who received a first residence permit, the largest groups were citizens of Ukraine (335,096, or 8.7% of the total), India (227,577, 5.9%), and Morocco (202,054, 5.2%). Among the citizenships in the top ten, the number of permits grew fastest for citizens of Colombia (by 43.4%), India (by 18.4%), Turkey (by 14.0%), and Ukraine (by 13.6%), while declines were recorded only for citizens of Syria (by 42.1%) and Belarus (by 15.5%). Citizens of Brazil and Pakistan also joined the ten most frequently represented citizenships, replacing citizens of Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The number of permits issued during the year is worth comparing with data on permits valid at the end of the year, which show how many third-country nationals have the right to reside in the Union on this basis. As of December 31, 2025, there were 27.8 million such permits. The most common basis for their issuance was family reunification (32.4%), and the largest numbers of valid permits were held by citizens of Morocco (2.2 million), Turkey (2.0 million), and Ukraine (1.7 million). It is these figures, rather than data on permits issued in a single year, that best illustrate the long-term nature of the migration processes taking place in the European Union.

Family reunification as one of the sources of mass migration

From the perspective of the long-term effects of migration, the category of permits issued for family reasons deserves particular attention. As noted above, the number of such permits rose by 14.1% in 2025. Family reasons were the most common basis for issuing a first permit in eight member states. According to Eurostat, the share of family permits in the total number of first permits was 56.7% in Luxembourg, 50.5% in Sweden, 48.3% in Finland, 47.4% in Belgium, 43.4% in Spain, and 40.8% in Italy. In absolute terms, the largest numbers of family permits were issued by Spain (275,869), Germany (225,591), Italy (176,876), and France (90,959). They were most often granted to citizens of Morocco, with Spain issuing more than half (51.7%) of these permits.

The importance of this category is even more evident in the data on permits valid at the end of the year. Family reunification was the basis for 32.4% of the 27.8 million such permits—more often than any other category. This stems from the nature of this form of migration. Unlike permits issued to students or seasonal workers, family permits are by design intended for living together and often lead to the permanent settlement of entire families.

Poland compared with the rest of the European Union

Against the backdrop of these trends, Poland clearly stands out. In 2025, it issued 467,314 first residence permits, or 12.1% of all those issued in the Union, placing it third after Spain and Germany. Compared with 2024, when 488,846 were issued, this nevertheless represents a decline, and as recently as 2023 the figure stood at 642,789. The scale of the change is best captured by a comparison with 2021, when Poland issued 967,345 first permits, or one-third of all those issued in the Union at the time.

The structure of permits issued in Poland also differs significantly from the EU average. Poland remained the main destination for labor migration to the Union: it issued 318,186 first employment-related permits, mainly to citizens of Ukraine and Belarus. Poland issued 72.0% of all first permits granted in the Union to Ukrainian citizens and 87.1% of those granted to Belarusian citizens. Migration to Poland is thus predominantly economic in nature and comes from neighboring countries, whereas in many other member states family reunification accounts for a substantial share of it.

The situation in selected EU member states

Eurostat data also indicate that the situation in individual member states developed very differently in 2025. The largest relative increases in the number of first permits were recorded in Portugal (by 154.9%, from 121,872 to 310,639), Romania (by 30.7%, from 57,111 to 74,664), Italy (by 25.0%, from 346,411 to 433,099), and Slovakia (by 24.9%, from 18,959 to 23,686), followed by Bulgaria (by 19.9%) and Cyprus (by 14.0%). The sharpest declines, by contrast, concerned Croatia (by 43.3%, from 89,809 to 50,963), Greece (by 20.6%, from 87,932 to 69,786), and Austria (by 15.5%, from 65,668 to 55,486).

The case of Portugal is particularly telling. More than three-quarters (77.4%) of the first permits issued there were employment-related, and with 240,523 such permits, Portugal became the second-largest destination for labor migration to the Union, after Poland. Together with Spain and Germany, these two countries issued 60.3% of all first employment-related permits. Portugal also issued 67.9% of all first permits granted in the Union to Brazilian citizens, and 90.3% of the employment-related permits issued to Brazilians were granted on its territory. Eurostat cautions, however, that in the case of Portugal there was a break in the time series for employment-related permits in 2025, which makes comparison with previous years difficult.

Migration to Spain and Italy has a different profile. In 2025, Spain issued the most first permits in the Union (635,438, or 16.5% of the total), 43.4% of them for family reasons. In Italy, where the number of first permits rose by a quarter, the share of family permits was 40.8%. Spain was also the main destination for Moroccan citizens: it issued 43.8% of all first permits granted to them in the Union and 51.7% of the permits they received for family reasons. Germany, for its part, issued 21.5% of the permits granted to Indian citizens, including 39.5% of those issued to them for education, as well as 41.9% of the permits issued to Afghan citizens for other reasons.

These data show that particular groups of third-country nationals are clearly concentrated in specific member states. Among the factors influencing the choice of destination country, Eurostat lists geographical proximity, historical and linguistic ties, and existing migration networks. Regardless of these factors, however, the decision to issue a permit is made by the authorities of the member state concerned.

Who receives permits and for what reasons?

Eurostat’s detailed breakdowns also make it possible to determine the reasons for which citizens of individual countries received permits. Around two-thirds of the Ukrainian citizens issued a first residence permit in the Union in 2025 obtained it for employment. Employment was also the main basis for issuing permits to citizens of Brazil (64.5%), Belarus (56.6%), and India (44.6%). Family reasons, by contrast, predominated among citizens of Morocco (47.9%), Colombia (37.7%), Turkey (35.7%), and Pakistan (34.5%). Education-related permits dominated among Chinese citizens (31.7%), and permits issued for other reasons, including international protection, among Syrian citizens (57.3%).

Significant differences are also visible in the breakdown by sex. Men received 55.7% of all first permits and women 44.3%. Employment-related permits issued to men accounted for 22.8% of all first permits, compared with 10.8% for women. The proportions were reversed for family permits: those issued to women accounted for 16.4% of the total and those issued to men for 11.7%. Labor migration thus concerns men to a greater extent and family migration concerns women to a greater extent, which corresponds to the typical pattern in which other family members follow the one who works.

Legal migration on a mass scale

The data published by Eurostat show that migration to the European Union is not abating but reaching record levels. The number of first residence permits is the highest since these statistics began to be collected in 2008, and its growth stems from the development of labor, family, and education migration. Family reunification also remains the most common basis of residence among the 27.8 million valid permits, which points to the lasting nature of the processes under way. On top of this come the 4.41 million people under temporary protection, who are not included in residence permit statistics.

The data under discussion lead to a conclusion that is often overlooked in public debate: it is legal migration that most significantly and permanently changes the demographic structure of the member states. Every year, hundreds of thousands more people join the ranks of third-country nationals with the right to reside in the Union, and a substantial proportion of them, especially in the case of family permits, settle permanently. According to Eurostat, as of January 1, 2025, 30.9 million third-country nationals were living in the European Union (p. 11). This represents about 7% of the EU population. In some member states, the scale of this phenomenon is especially pronounced: in Malta, Cyprus, and Portugal, the number of first permits issued in 2025 per capita exceeded the EU average several times over. These changes are not one-off in nature but are growing year after year, shaping the societies of the member states for decades to come.

Against this background, the ratio between legal and illegal migration takes on particular significance. Illegal migration, although a serious problem that rightly causes public concern, is in essence merely the tip of the iceberg. According to Eurostat data, in 2025 around 720,000 third-country nationals were found to be illegally present in the member states, 21.7% fewer than a year earlier. That is less than one-fifth of the number of first residence permits issued in the same period. These statistics admittedly cover only cases detected by state authorities, but even taking this caveat into account, the scale of legal migration remains incomparably greater. A debate focused almost exclusively on illegal border crossings therefore overlooks the processes that in reality most determine the Union’s demographic future.

Although residence permits are issued by the authorities of individual member states, and in the case of family reunification their discretion is significantly constrained by EU law, Eurostat data ultimately show that the number of permits issued is changing at very different rates across those states. This is best illustrated by the contrast between the more than two-and-a-half-fold increase in the number of first permits in Portugal and the further decline recorded in Poland. In the realities of the Schengen Area, however, the consequences of national decisions are not confined to the territory of a single state. The question therefore remains open whether decisions taken in individual capitals will take into account the interests of the other member states, or whether their burden will increasingly be shifted onto the community as a whole.

Patryk Ignaszczak – analyst at the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law

Translated using Claude.ai

See also:

• A Sentence for Opposing Mass Migration in Poland. Ordo Iuris Files an Appeal in the Case of Oliwia Olejniczak
• The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Demands Greater Participation of Foreigners in National Politics
• The End of Deportation Tourism? European Parliament Backs Tougher Migration Policy
• Ordo Iuris Urges EU Leaders to Act Against Spain’s Mass Migrant Regularization Plan
• Rewriting Rights? The ECHR’s Shift Away from the European Convention’s Text on Same-Sex Unions, Immigration, and the Judiciary

Source of cover photo: iStock