REVEALED: EU issues record number of ‘first resident permits’ to migrants as number hits 3.7 m in a year

Last week, the EU Commission released its latest statistics for the number of migrants granted ‘first resident permits’ by EU 27 countries in 2023.

A joint investigation with GB News and Facts4EU can reveal that in the last year, almost one million (986,453) were issued for ‘Family Reasons’.

This number is out of a total of 3.7 million first residence permits granted to migrants by EU27 countries last year.

These figures broke all records bringing the number of permits issued in the last ten years to 27.7 million which is a 113 per cent increase in the last decade.

First Residence Permits grant migrants the right to stay and to work or study in the EU for a pre-determined period.

The other reasons for permits in 2023 were employment (1,263,358), education (534,558) and ‘other’ (956,646).

The ‘other’ reasons first residence permits were issued were for international protection or residents without the right to work (e.g. pensioners).

However, the number of first permits to ‘family members’ accounted for over one-quarter of all first residence permits in the EU in 2023, an increase of 70 per cent on the figure ten years ago.

According to the European Commission, there are many reasons the number of first residence permits for family reasons has increased in the last decade.

The Commission cites “family formation” such as marriages or adoptions as well as reunification with family members as a common reason in addition to minor children who are granted refugee status to be reunited with their parents.

It explained: “Under EU law, family reunification rules allow the spouse or registered partner, as well as the minor children to be reunited with the sponsor. In certain circumstances, other dependent family members, such as parents or adult unmarried children, may also qualify for family reunification if they are dependent on the sponsor for their well-being.”

They also said the reasons these permits are granted can differ across the Member states and depend on each individual case.

The countries letting in the most family members were:

Spain: 230,138Germany: 207,057Italy: 135,734France: 92,082EU27 Total: 986,453

These four countries accounted for over two-thirds of all first permits for family-related reasons in the EU (67.4 per cent).

Family-related reasons were also the most common reason for issuing residence permits in six EU countries.

In Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Finland family-related reasons accounted for more than 40 per cent of all the permits issued at a national level followed by the Netherlands (34.4 per cent).

In 2023, Moroccans were the largest group to receive residence permits for family-related reasons and they were mostly granted by Spain.

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In 2023, among the top ten citizenships for non-EU nationals who received first residence permits for all reasons, the highest increases compared with 2022 were observed for China (up 29.7 per cent), followed by Morocco and India (up 10.1 per cent and 10 per cent respectively).

Ukraine had the highest total share of permits (8.2 per cent) but faced a considerable decline of 19.6 per cent compared to the previous year.

However, Poland remained the top country granting first residence permits, contributing 17.2 per cent of the total EU number, with Germany, Spain and France following closely.

A European Commission Spokesperson said: “It is a Member State competence to issue first residence permits (to third country nationals who are not beneficiaries of temporary or international protection, or family members of EU citizen or a legally residing third country national, cases which fall under EU law) allowing third-country nationals to stay legally on their territory.”

The spokesperson continued: “To remain globally competitive, the EU must attract and keep talent. This will foster growth, innovation potential and channel legal migration where we need it the most. In tackling labour and skills shortages, the EU’s first priority is to maximise the potential of the EU Member States’ workforce, for instance by helping people to develop new skills and apply these in the labour market.

“Legal migration plays a key and complementary role in supporting the labour market needs of the EU, and also in enhancing migration management, fostering cooperation with countries of origin and transit, and ultimately contributing to the reduction of irregular migration.”