BRUSSELS, 4th August, 2023 (WAM) — In 2022, almost 3.7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens, a 26% increase (+753, 445 permits) compared with 2021. The total value is the highest registered since 2009, topping even the pre-pandemic level observed in 2019 (3.0 million), according to data published by Eurostat.
The data does not include persons granted temporary protection in EU countries due to the crisis in Ukraine.
“Employment reasons” accounted for 42% of all first residence permits issued in 2022, at around 1.6 million permits, indicating an 18% increase compared with 2021 (+243, 617).
“Family reasons” accounted for 24%, “other reasons”, including international protection, accounted for 21%, and “education reasons” for 13%. Compared with 2021, these three main reasons saw substantial increases: “other reasons’’ was up by 37% (+209, 074), followed by “education reasons” (+33%; +117, 230) and family reasons” (+26%; +183, 524).
Germany topped the list of first residence permits granted in the EU, issuing 538, 690 permits (15% of total permits issued in the EU). More than 300, 000 first permits were also issued by Spain (12%; 457, 412 permits;), Italy (9%; 337,788) and France (9%; 324, 200).
The most common destinations for work in 2022 were Spain (145, 314 permits), Germany (81 795 permits) and Italy (66, 791 permits).
The EU countries with the highest number of permits issued for family reasons in 2022 were Germany (5%; 188, 367), Spain (5%; 168, 804), and Italy (4%; 131, 275) of total first residence permits.
Germany also topped the list of “other reasons”, with 198, 456 permits and 5% of total first residence permits, followed by Italy (114, 256) with 3%.
France issued the most education-related permits (3%; 104, 777), followed by Germany (70, 072) and Spain (58, 636), each with 2% of the total.