Malta issued 10,974 residence permits for non-eu citizens in 2017, according to the latest publication of Eurostat. This represents 0.35% of the total 3.1 million residence permits residence permits of the EU member states in 2017.

Malta issued 54.6% of residence permits (5,977) for employment activities. These residence permits to foreigners (non-EU) represent 2.3% of the population of Malta in 2017 which was 460,297

Across the EU Member States in 2017, the highest ratios of first residence permits to population were recorded in

• Malta (23.4 permits issued per 1 000 population),
• Cyprus (22.1),
• Poland (18.0),
• Sweden (12.9),
• Luxembourg (12.1) and
• Ireland (10.0)

Residence permits by country

• Serbia 18.5%
• Philippines 10.8%
• India 7.1%
• Macedonia 5.1%
• Libya 4.8%

Germany, Poland and United Kingdom issued over half a million residence permits (first time) to foreigners in 2017 alone

• Germany 535K (51% other reasons)
• Poland 683K (87% for employment)
• United Kingdom 517K (34% for education)

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