Fewer residency permits for non-Europeans in 2014

Fewer residency permits for non-Europeans in 2014

Some 2.3 million new residency permits were granted to non-Europeans in the EU in 2014, which represents a decrease of 2.2% compared to 2013, and 9% compared t2014, according to statistics published by Eurostat (the EU Office of Statistics) on Tuesday. The main recipients were Ukranian, American, Chinese and indian. Belgium delivered 44,000 permits last year.

New EU residency permits were granted mostly for family reasons (29.5%) as well as work- (24.8%) and study-related (20.7%). “The decrease in numbers since 2008 is mainly due to the reduced number of work permits (from 0.8 million in 2008 to 0.6 million last year),” highlights Eurostat in a press release.

The United Kingdom granted the highest number of permits (567,800, 24.6% of the total EU figure). The UK, Poland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain are the 6 countries which delivered 75% of new residency permits in 2014.

Belgium is below the European average with 43,823 new permits. They were granted mainly for family reasons (52.7%), education opportunities (14.3%) and work opportunities (10.9%). The majority were granted to people from Morocco, India and the US.

(Source: Belga)


Copyright © 2024 The Brussels Times. All Rights Reserved.