EU issues 3.1 million residence permits in 2017

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Around 3.1 million people took residence permits from the EU for the first time in 2017, the EU’s statistical authority said on Thursday.

The number of new permits rose by 4 percent or 112,000 in 2017 compared with 2016, Eurostat said in a press release.

"Employment reasons accounted for almost one-third (32 percent) of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2017, family reasons for 26 percent, education reasons for 17 percent, and other reasons, including international protection, for 24 percent," according to the Eurostat.

Most of the permits were taken by Ukrainians (662,000 people), Syrians (223,000) and the Chinese (193,000), while Poland, Germany and the U.K. issued most of the permits with 683,000, 535,000 and 517,000, respectively, by 55 percent.

Poland was chosen by non-EU citizens mostly for employment and the U.K. for education.

While most of Ukrainians' reason to take permission was employment, Chinese's motive was education and Syrians applied for it seeking refugee status or subsidiary protection.