Cyprus issued a total of 18,971 residence permits in its territory in 2017 putting it second behind Malta, according to Eurostat.
Out of the total number 18,971 permits, citizens of India received 4,710, (24.8%), there were 2,883 Russians (15.2%) followed by Nepal 1,406 (7.4%).
The total of 18,971 equates to 22.1 permits for 1,000 Cypriot citizens, this is the second highest percentage in the EU, behind Malta with 23 permits per 1,000.
Some 2,741 permits (14.4%) were granted for family reasons, 4,923 (26%) for educational purposes, 8,204 (43.2%) for employment and 3,103 (16.4%) for "other reasons".
Meanwhile in 2017, about 3.1 million first residence permits were issued in the European Union (EU) to non-EU citizens. The number increased almost by 4% (or 112 000) compared with 2016.
Employment reasons accounted for almost one-third (32%) of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2017, family reasons for 26%, education reasons for 17%, and other reasons, including international protection, for 24%.
The increase in the total number of first residence permits in 2017 in comparison with 2016 was mainly due to the increasing number of first permits issued for employment reasons (up by 15,000, or 18%), family reasons (up by 49,000, or 6%) and education reasons (up by 30,000, or 6%), whereas the number of first permits issued for other reasons decreased by 123,000 (-14%).
One out of five first residence permits were issued in Poland (683,000, or 22% of total permits issued in the EU), followed by Germany (535,000, or 17%), the UK (517,000, or 16%), France (250 000, or 8%), Spain (231 000, or 7%), Italy (187,000, or 6%) and Sweden (130,000, or 4%).
Compared to the population of each Member State, the highest rates of first resident permits issued in 2017 were recorded in Malta (23 permits issued per thousand population), Cyprus (22), Poland (18), Sweden (13) and Luxembourg (12). For the EU as a whole in 2017, six first residence permits were issued per thousand population.
Citizens of Ukraine (662,000 beneficiaries, almost 88% in Poland) continued to receive the highest number of permits in the EU, ahead of citizens of Syria (223,000, almost two-thirds in Germany), China including Hong Kong (193,000, almost half in the UK), India (163,000, 44% in the UK) and the United States (147,000, over half in the UK), Morocco (108,000, 41% in Spain) and Afghanistan (87,000, around 61% in Germany).
About half of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2017 were issued to citizens of these seven countries.
