EU-issued residence permits on the rise, 115,000 to Russian nationals

Brussels – In 2023, EU countries issued over 3.7 million first residence permits to non-EU citizens, up 4.7 percent from 2022 and the highest number on record. Ukrainians and Belarusians topped the nationalities of origin, 307.3 thousand and 281.3 thousand, respectively, but the EU also opened its doors to 115 thousand Russian nationals.

According to Eurostat data, the year-on-year increase was driven in particular by a surge in permits issued to Chinese nationals (+29.7 percent), Moroccans, and Indians (+10 percent). In absolute terms, the top ten citizenships, after Ukraine and Belarus, were India, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Russia, China, Brazil, and Afghanistan.

One-third of all residence permits (1.3 million) were granted for employment reasons, the main reason for issuance, although declining slightly. In second place were family reasons, which accounted for 26.4 percent (986,453) of all permits, an increase of 6.4 percent over 2022. Other reasons include international protection, which accounted for a quarter of the total, an increase of 5.3 percent.

Permits for education reasons increased by 13.5 percent, and represented 14.3 percent of all first-time residence permits.

The most frequent reason for permits to citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, India, and Turkey was work, while Syrians and Afghans mainly accessed international protection. The largest share of permits for Russian citizens – but also Moroccans and Brazilians – were for family reasons.

Poland is the EU country that issued the most permits, at 642,789. Over half a million also came from Germany and Spain, followed by Italy with 389,500 and France with 335,000.