Poland issued EU’s third most residence permits to immigrants in 2025
However, the number of permits issued fell for the fourth year running, as Poland tightened migration rules.
In 2025, Poland issued residence permits to nearly half a million immigrants, ranking third in the European Union after Spain and Germany. However, this number marked a drop for the fourth consecutive year as Poland tightened its migration rules. Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency, reported that Poland granted 467,314 first residence permits to immigrants from outside the EU in 2025, compared to Spain's 635,438 and Germany's 605,292.
Italy and France issued 433,099 and 377,462 permits, respectively. Poland's decline is attributed to a tougher migration strategy introduced by the current government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who accused the previous government of allowing "uncontrolled" migration. The data also showed that Poland issued the most permits to Ukrainians (241,126, 51.6%), followed by Belarusians (128,468, 27.5%).
Written by urgent.news from Notes from Poland's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
