Many foreigners wish to get residency to any of the European Union countries because of the benefits it offers. Having a residence permit in the EU allows a person to travel without needing a visa and get access to the country’s services for the people. These benefits clearly made its impact in the latest tally of Eurostat about the number of people who applied for residence permits in the EU.

Eurostat on EU Residence Permit

On Friday, the Eurostat released its latest assessment about the number of people who applied for a residence permit in the region. In their assessment, Cyprus issued a total of 20,999 first residence permits to non-EU citizens last year. It places them as the second highest issuer of the permit in the EU.

Out of these numbers, 3784 are Indians, 3,402 are Russians and 2,087 are Syrians. Most of the applicants, or 9,771 of them, applied for professional reasons, while others are for family, education and others.

The Eurostat also said that last year, the region gave 3.2 million residence permits to non-EU citizens. The numbers increased by 0.4%, which is in line with the growing trend in the past three years. Almost 28% of the region’s numbers are for family applications, followed by employment, education and asylum. In comparison to 2017, education was the top reason why residence permits were given to non-EU citizens.

Malta has the highest rate of first permits issued to non-EU citizens in 2018. They gave 36 permits per thousands of population. Cyprus (24), Poland (17), Slovenia (14) and Luxembourg (13) were next in the list. Overall, the EU gave 6 permits per thousand population for 2018.

Meanwhile, Poland became the EU country with permits issued for employment for last year. Around 328,000 permits are available to non-EU citizens aiming to work in the country. For education, the UK gave out 190,000 permits. Germany has the highest number of permits issued for other reasons with 219,000 permits given to refugees and those seeking humanitarian protection.

Cyprus Travel Tips

Cyprus has a lot of great destinations for tourists to check out when they have a chance to check it out. They can check the official tourism portal of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism for information. Visa details can be checked in the visa page of Cyprus in this link.

For those who wish to work in the country, we have an article on the average and minimum salary in Nicosia.

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Being a member of the European Union’s Schengen Area has many benefits. Citizens from member countries can travel without a visa and the flow of goods and services are easier. The network is quite vast and a new member will be joining it soon: Croatia.

EU’s Recommendation

On Tuesday, the European Commission finalized their assessment regarding Croatia’s application. They agreed that the country has passed all the requirements necessary to be a part of the Schengen area after it applied for the right four years ago.

Croatia has been a member of the EU since 2013, but it was unable to join the Schengen area. The EU wanted the country to find ways to protect its borders, especially after the 2015 migrant crisis.

With the recommendation, the Croatian economy will greatly benefit and tourism will also increase. One benefit of the Schengen area is removing the checks required for people to travel to a country.

In his statement during the news conference in Strasbourg, EU’s migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said “Croatia has taken the measures to ensure that the necessary conditions are met.”

Two weeks ago, Avramopoulos said that the country is ready to be included in the network. However, he said, back then, that Croatia needs to sort out a few more requirements before the EU considers their application. All EU member countries must also approve Croatia’s application. Last week, France had blocked the application of North Macedonia and Albania despite the commission recommending that the two countries be a part of the EU. 

The EU has been assessing Croatia’s inclusion to the special zone since 2015. Several countries support their inclusion, which include Italy and Poland.

As a final note about their recommendation, the commission said, ” Croatia will need to continue working on the implementation of all ongoing actions. In particular, its management of external borders.”

Croatia Travel Tips

Visitors traveling to Croatia can get a lot of tips from this site and other official sites.

For this site, the best places to stay guide for Dubrovnik, the international airports guide in Croatia and the best time to visit the country is available. If you wish to work or retire in the country, you may check the how to retire in Croatia guide and the salary comparison in Zagreb guide.

For other details, check out Croatia Tourism.

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