Figures published by Eurostat last Thursday show that Luxembourg issued 7,207 first residence permits. Given Luxembourg’s reliance on migrant labour, this may surprise few. However, almost half of these permits were issued for family reasons and just 1,783 were issued for employment reasons.

It becomes clearer when considering the citizenship of beneficiaries--the largest chunk of which were Syrian (657). Based on figures published by Luxembourg’s immigration department in its 2017 annual asylum report, (PDF) Syrians fleeing conflict in their home country were the largest citizenship group to apply for asylum. Out of 2,322 asylum applications received that year, 15.8% (368) were from Syrians. The same year, 463 Syrian nationals were given refugee status.

After Syria, the next biggest recipient groups of residence permits in Luxembourg were Indians (656) and US nationals (597).

Across the EU, the top 10 citizenships granted first residence included Ukraine, Syria, China, India, US, Morocco, Afghanistan, Iraq, Brazil and Turkey. Work was the main reason for Ukraine, accounting for almost 9 out of 10 permits, and for India, where it accounted for 37% of permits. Education was the top reason given for China, accounting for almost two thirds of permits issued while for Morocco it was family reasons, making up 67% of permits.