Nearly 3.7 million first residence permits issued in 2022

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). 

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. 

Please note that this data 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. For more detailed information please refer to the Eurostat database.

Employment remains the main reason 

“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). 

Source dataset: migr_resfirst 

Among the EU countries for which data are available in 2022, 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%; 337788) and France (9%; 324 200). 
 

Germany recorded the largest increase in first residence permits 

The largest relative increase in the total number of permits issued in 2022, when compared with 2021, was recorded in Germany: +190% (from 185 570 in 2021 to 538 690 in 2022). The increase in Germany was mainly due to the increased number of permits issued for family and other reasons. Germany was followed by Malta (+164%; from 14 358 to 37 851) and Ireland (+146%; from 34 935 to 85 793). 

Decreases in the total number of permits issued in 2022 when compared with 2021 were recorded in Czechia (-28%; from 74 395 to 53 809), with Slovakia (-6%; from 29 067 to 27 441) and Hungary (-1%; from 58 115 to 57 286).  

Germany for family reasons, France for study 

The most common destinations for work in 2022 for which data are available 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.