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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Poland last year issued almost 490,000 first residence permits to immigrants from outside the European Union. That was its lowest figure in a decade, though still the third highest among all EU member states, behind only Spain and Germany.
The development came amid efforts by the current government to clamp down on what it says was uncontrolled mass migration that took place under the former Law and Justice (PiS) administration. During PiS’s time in power from 2015 to 2023, Poland regularly issued the EU’s most residence permits.
New data from Eurostat show that Poland issued 488,846 first residence permits in 2024, down from 642,789 the previous year and well below the record high of 967,345 in 2021. It was Poland’s lowest figure since 355,418 in 2014.
Poland’s 2024 figure was behind Spain (561,640) and Germany (544,987), and ahead of Italy (346,411) and France (342,208).
Previously, between 2017 and 2022, Poland had issued the highest number of first residence permits in the EU for six years running. In 2023, it was overtaken by Germany, which issued 662,888 permits that year.
In relation to population size, Poland in 2024 issued the EU’s seventh most permits (13.4 per 1,000 residents), well above the EU-wide figure of 7.8 but down from a peak of 26.2 permits per 1,000 residents in 2021, which was the EU’s second highest figure that year.
As in previous years, the majority of Poland’s first residence permits in 2024 were issued to citizens of its eastern neighbours, Ukraine (226,184 permits, 46.3% of the total) and Belarus (151,116, 30.9%). They were followed by Georgia (12,250, 2.5%), India (10,358, 2.1%) and Turkey (9,673, 2.0%).
Ukrainians are by far Poland’s largest immigrant group, with over 1.5 million estimated to live in the country, made up of both refugees who fled Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 as well as economic migrants and students.
The number of foreigners in Poland’s social insurance system rose 6% in 2023 to reach 1.13 million. Immigrants now make up almost 7% of all those in the system
The largest increases were recorded by Belarusians, Ukrainians, Indians, Colombians and Nepalis https://t.co/eA1QVo0ydH
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 27, 2024
Although the national-conservative PiS party came to power in 2015 in part on a vocally anti-immigration platform, it oversaw levels of immigration unprecedented in Poland’s history during its eight years in office.
Ahead of the parliamentary elections of 2023, then opposition leader Donald Tusk made criticism of PiS’s immigration policies a central plank of his campaign. He accused PiS of allowing unchecked migration, including through widespread abuses of the visa system.
After coming to power at the end of that year, Tusk declared that the “survival of Western civilisation” depends upon preventing such “uncontrolled migration”.
His ruling coalition – which ranges from left to centre-right – has taken steps to clamp down on migration, including tightening requirements for student visas and economic migrants. It has also stepped up deportations of immigrants found to have committed crimes.
Poland has introduced tougher new rules regulating the entry of foreign students and immigrant workers.
“This is another step towards regaining control over migration and increasing the safety of Poles," says the government https://t.co/gYdikpc6pL
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 2, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Jakub Orzechowski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
