EU countries issued a record 3.9 million first residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2025, up 10.1% on 2024, according to Eurostat data published this week. Employment led the increase, accounting for 33.6% of all new permits and up 16.1% year-on-year, followed by family reunification (28.1%, up 14.1%) and education (15.5%, up 9%). Only one category shrank: permits granted for other reasons, including international protection, fell 0.9%.
Portugal stood out for the size of its increase rather than its total volume. The country issued 310,639 first permits in 2025 — well below leaders Spain (635,438), Germany (605,292) and Poland (467,314) — but that figure was up 154.9% on 2024, the steepest percentage increase of any EU country. Employment was the leading category in Portugal, with 240,523 permits issued, the second-highest total in the EU after Poland, driven mainly by Ukrainian, Belarusian and Brazilian workers; Portugal alone accounted for 90.3% of all EU employment permits issued to Brazilian nationals. Relative to population, Portugal issued 27 permits per 1,000 residents, well above the EU average of 9, though still behind Malta (57) and Cyprus (47).
The surge comes as Portugal has been tightening its immigration rules more broadly this year, including a new law (No. 62/2026) that took effect on September 11 and narrows some routes to residence permits, according to earlier reporting. Eurostat’s figures reflect permits issued through 2025, so they capture the period before this year’s tightening — meaning it is too early to say from this data alone whether the pace of increase will continue into 2026.
By the end of 2025, the EU held 27.8 million valid residence permits overall — the highest total on record — with Moroccan (2.2 million), Turkish (2.0 million) and Ukrainian (1.7 million) citizens holding the most. Ukrainians received more first permits than any other nationality EU-wide in 2025 (335,096), with 72% of those issued by Poland.
References
Euronews – EU countries issued a record 3.9 million residence permits last year
