“In 2015, EU Member States issued around 2.6 million first residence permits to third country nationals. This represents an increase of 12.1 % compared to the previous year (around 280 thousand more permits).”
“In 2015, citizens of Ukraine (500 thousand, or 19.2 % of the total number of first residence permits issued in the EU) continued to receive the highest number of permits, ahead of citizens of the United States (262 thousand), Chinese (167 thousand), Indians (136 thousand), and Syrians (104 thousand). These five citizenships account for about 45 % of all permits issued in the EU” citing a recent Eurostat report by MTI.
Hungary issued 20,700 first residence permits in 2015.
Due to the popularity of the Hungarian residency bonds the largest number of first residence permits issued to Chinese citizens – more than 20% of all new residence permit issued to citizens of China.
Due to labor shortages in the agricultural sector, first residence permits issued to Ukrainian citizens grew significantly this year – 8.1 percent of the total number of new residence permits issued to Ukrainian citizens in 2015.
Surprisingly, more than 1600 US citizens also applied and received residence permits in Hungary in 2015. (Hopefully, they are not CIA assets came to destabilize the country)
translated by hungarianambiance.com
Source: MTI – Eurostat