Ukrainians ranked first in terms of the number of EU residence permits
In 2025, Ukrainian citizens received 335,100 first-time residence permits in European Union countries. As a result, Ukrainians became the largest group among citizens of non-EU countries.
In total, EU countries issued approximately 3.9 million first-time residence permits to third-country nationals in 2025.
Ukrainians accounted for 8.7% of all first-time residence permits issued in the EU to third-country nationals. Citizens of India ranked second with 227,600 permits, or 5.9%, while citizens of Morocco ranked third with 202,100 permits, or 5.2%.
Compared to 2024, the number of first-time residence permits issued to Ukrainian citizens increased by 13.6%. A year earlier, this figure stood at approximately 295,000.
Thus, even under the current temporary protection mechanism, a significant number of Ukrainians are transitioning to other grounds for legal residence in the EU or applying for them for the first time.
The main basis for Ukrainians to obtain their first residence permit in 2025 was employment. According to Eurostat, about two-thirds of such permits were related to employment.
Poland issued the largest number of first-time permits to Ukrainians—accounting for 72% of the total number of such permits issued to Ukrainian citizens in the EU.
These figures do not include individuals receiving temporary protection due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These figures are tracked in separate statistics; therefore, the 335,100 first permits relate to other grounds for residence, including work, family reunification, study, and other categories.
This was reported by Open4business, citing Eurostat data.
Ukraine expects to complete its accession to the EU in 2027, according to Kachka.
At the first meeting of the Council of the European Union’s Working Group on Enlargement (COELA) following the summer break on September 1, the Hungarian delegation once again refused to approve the results of the screening of negotiation clusters 2 and 3 for Ukraine.
Ukraine expects to open the remaining negotiation clusters for accession to the European Union by the end of 2026. Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky discussed progress on European integration with European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and stated that the government, together with parliament, is working to accelerate the necessary reforms.
