European Agenda on Migration

Migration and asylum in Europe: Migrant skills

Published

1 week ago

January 30, 2026

Migration and asylum in Europe – 2025 edition, published in December, looks at topics such as migration to the EU, migration within and from the EU, population by citizenship, the skills of migrants, international protection and asylum and irregular migration. Today, we focus on skills of migrants.

In 2024, around 78,100 highly qualified non-EU workers received EU Blue Card, a work and residence permit for highly qualified people from outside the EU. Germany issued the largest number (56,300; 72% of all EU Blue Cards), followed by Poland (5,900; 7%), Hungary (2,900; 4%) and France (2,800; 4%).

Citizens of India were granted the most EU Blue Cards in 2024 (16,300; 21% of all Blue Cards issued in the EU), ahead of citizens of Russia (6,700; 9%), Türkiye (5,600; 7%) and China (4,600; 6%).

Non-EU citizens can also stay in the EU to study and do research. In total, in 2024, the EU countries issued 475,000 authorizations for study and research. Germany issued most authorizations (131,000; 28% of all authorizations in the EU), followed by France (118,000; 25%) and Spain (59,000; 12%).

The main recipients were citizens from India (53,000 or 11% of all authorizations in the EU), China (44,000; 9%), Morocco (23,000; 5%) and the United States (22,000; 5%).

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The interactive publication Migration and asylum in Europe – 2025 edition guides you through key indicators on migration and asylum in Europe, offering visualizations and short summaries of the main findings. It allows you to explore and compare data on migration and asylum at EU and country level.