A record number of first residence permits for EU countries were issued last year to people originating from outside the EU.
The number rose to 2.6 million in 2015, the highest since Eurostat began compiling data in 2008 and a rise of 12% over 2014.
Family reasons were the main factor in issuing permits, accounting for nearly 30% of the permits.
Employment was the driver for 27% of the permits across EU countries, while 20% were given for purposes of education.
Portugal in 2015 issued 29,000 first residence permits to non-EU nationals – 45% for family reasons, 23% for employment, 11% for education and 21% for “other reasons”.
The majority of Portuguese permits were granted to citizens of Brazil, China and Cape Verde.
Looking across all the EU members, citizens of the Ukraine continued to receive the highest number of permits. The second largest number was granted to people from the US, followed by China, India, Syria and Morocco.
Citizens from these six nations received about 50% of all the permits.
Of the half a million permits for Ukrainians, 86% were given by Poland.
The Americans predominately were given permits by the UK, representing 77% of all US applicants.
British residence permits favoured people from the US, followed by citizens of China and India. The UK was the country that issued the most residence permits of any EU member state, with 44% of the permits for education.
The UK was followed by Poland, France (to Algerians, Moroccans and Chinese), Germany (to Syrians, Turks and Indians), and Spain (to Moroccans, Chinese and Colombians).
