Legal Migration-Fig03

Most first residence permits in the EU-28 were issued for employment-related reasons (1.01 million of all first permits issued), followed by family-related reasons (830 000), other reasons (including international protection) (767 000) and education-related reasons (530 000) (see Figure 3). Poland issued the highest number of first residence permits in 2017 (a total of 683 228), followed by Germany (535 446) and the United Kingdom (517 000). Further opening up these regular mobility schemes could help facilitate cooperation with third countries on issues such as the prevention of irregular migration, readmission and return, while also benefiting people in need of international protection.