Labor migration to Estonia more than doubles in 2018

TALLINN - Labor migration to Estonia more than doubled in 2018, while the dominant nationality was Ukrainian.

While there were only 1,782 registrations of short-term employment in 2016, the number stood at 7,510 in 2017 and soared to 19,858 in 2018, it appears from freshly published statistics from the Police and Border Guard Board.

The number of residence permit applications was 8,130 last year, including 2,720 applications for the purpose of employment. In 2017, the number of residence permit applications was 7,505 and applications for employment purposes numbered 2,272, while the indicators stood at 6,702 and 1,800, respectively, in 2016.

Citizens of Ukraine dominated both in terms of residence permit applications for the purpose of employment as well as short-term employment registrations. Altogether 15,524 people from Ukraine came to work in Estonia on a short-term basis in 2018, followed by Belarus with 1,112 and Russia with 864 people.

Residence permit applications submitted for the purpose of employment numbered 1,619 from Ukraine, followed by Russia with 372 and Belarus with 139 applications.