Malta with highest rate of residence permits to non-EU citizens

Malta issued 23 first-time residence permits for every 1,000 of the population, the highest rate in the EU, according to Eurostat

The construction industry has been employing Serbian workers to fill in the labour shortage
The construction industry has been employing Serbian workers to fill in the labour shortage

Malta issued 10,974 first-time residence permits last year, with more than half for employment purposes, figures out today show.

The rate at 23.4 permits per 1,000 population put Malta top of the EU league table, according to Eurostat, an EU agency.

Second in line came Cyprus with 22.1 residence permits, followed by Poland (18) and Sweden (13).

The figures show that 54.6% (5,997) of first-time residence permits issued in 2017 by Malta were for employment purposes. Family reasons accounted for 14.4% of permits issued last year and another 13.9% for educational purposes. The rest (17%) were for other reasons.

Serbs, Filipinos and Indians were the three main nationalities granted residence permits in 2017 by Malta.

People from Serbia

The figures show that Serbs topped the list with 2,033 people from the Balkan country being granted a first-time residence permit. They accounted for 18.5% of all permits issued last year, making them the largest group.

This is probably a reflection of the construction boom, with many building contractors and developers employing Serb construction workers to fill in the labour shortage.

The second next largest category came from the Philippines, with 1,180 residence permits. Filipinos accounted for 10.8% of residence permits.

These were followed by 784 permits (7.1%) issued to Indians.

Across the EU, half of residence permits were issued to seven citizenships, with Ukrainians topping the list (662,000). Citizens of Syria came in second place with 223,000, two-thirds of which were granted residence permits in Germany.

China slipped in third with 193,000 permits, of which almost half were in the UK.