Record level of residence permits issued in EU to third nationals: Who receives the most and why?

Most permits are granted for work and family reasons, with also a significant share issued on humanitarian grounds.

EU countries issued a record 3.7 million first residence permits to third nationals in 2023, the highest number since data collection began, in 2013.

First residence permits allow foreign nationals to live in a certain country for a given period of time and for a specific purpose – such as work, study, family or humanitarian reasons.

Eurostat data shows that In 2023 Ukrainian nationals received the most permits (307,313), followed by Belarusians (281,279) and Indians (207,966).

Russians also accounted for a significant portion, with 116,142 permits issued in total – most of them on family grounds.

More work-related permits than humanitarian ones

Work permits accounted for 33.8% of the total, followed by family reasons (26.4%), “humanitarian and other reasons” (25.6%) and education (14.3%.)

Education saw the biggest jump in permits from 2022 (+63 674), with Indians (38 157), Chinese (35,620), and Americans (26,821) receiving most of them.

Moroccans overwhelmingly top the list of permits for family reasons, accounting for more than 50% of them, while Belarusians (148,957), Syrians (127 043), Afghans (97,339) and Ukrainians (53,186) received the most humanitarian-related permits.

Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz