Poland issued highest number of immigration permits in EU in 2017
In 2017, Polish authorities issued the most residence permits for immigrants of all the EU countries - nearly 700,000 - according to Eurostat data. Most of them were granted to Ukranians.
According to the ranking, which was published on the Eurostat website, the the statistical office of the European Union, Poland, in 2017, issued one out of five such permits granted in the entire EU (22 percent - 683,000). Germany, a country twice the size and much richer, placed second with 535,000 permits (17 percent of those granted in the entire EU), followed by Great Britain (517,000 - 16 percent), France (250,000 - 8 percent) and Spain (321,000 - 7 percent).
The permits were given for the first stay of foreigners from outside the EU, who came to a given country for work, family or education purposes.
It can be seen from these figures that Poland issued most of its permits (597,000) for employment purposes. This total was 59 percent of all the employment permits granted by the EU. In other words, Poland was the main destination country of economic migration. (PAP)
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