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More than 3.7 million first residence permits in 2023

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More than 3.7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens in 2023, a 4.7% increase compared with 2022, and the highest number recorded to date. 

Employment remained the main reason for issuing residence permits in 2023, accounting for 33.8% (1.3 million) of all first residence permits issued, indicating a modest decrease compared with 2022 (-0.4%; -4 662).

Family reasons accounted for 26.4% (986 453) of all permits, reflecting a 6.4% increase (+58 943) compared with 2022. Other reasons, including international protection, made up nearly the same share (25.6%; 956 646), with a 5.3% rise (+48 406). Education reasons represented 14.3% (534 558) of all first residence permits, representing the largest overall increase of 13.5% (+63 674). 

This information comes from data on first residence permits published by Eurostat. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on first residence permits issued during the year. 

Number of first residence permits issued in the EU, 2014-2023, by reason. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: migr_resfirst 

Highest number of residence permits to citizens of Ukraine

In 2023, the highest number of first residence permits was issued to citizens of Ukraine (307 313), followed by Belarus (281 279) and India (207 966).

Top 10 citizenships granted first residence permits in the EU, 2023, total number in thousands and % by reason. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: migr_resfirst 

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When looking at the top 10 countries of citizenship of those granted residence permits, employment was the most frequent reason for nationals of Ukraine (71.7%), Belarus (52.3%), India (45.2%) and Türkiye (31.8%). Other reasons, including international protection, dominated for citizens of Syria (77.3%) and Afghanistan (85.1%). Family reasons accounted for the largest share of permits for nationals of Morocco (50.3%), Russia (39.4%) and Brazil (35.3%), while nationals of China were mostly granted permits for education reasons (37.8%).

For more information

Methodological note

  • Break in series for Germany in 2020, Greece in 2021 (other reasons), Italy in 2022 (other reasons) and Spain in 2023 (education reasons).
  • The data presented in this article does not include persons granted temporary protection in EU countries due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Such data are subject to a separate data collection on grants of temporary protection status.

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