Eurostat: Bulgaria issued 15 389 first residence permits to non-EU nationals in 2022
Bulgaria issued 15 389 residence permits to non-EU nationals in 2022, the largest number in the five-year period from 2018 onwards, according to figures posted on August 4 by European Union statistics agency Eurostat.
Of the 15 389 permits, 5345 were for family reasons, 1923 for education and 3950 for “other” reasons, Eurostat said.
In 2018, Bulgaria issued 11 864 first residence permits, in 2019 a total of 13 500, in 2020 – when the Covid-19 pandemic began – 10 267, and in 2021, a total of 11 784.
In 2022, almost 3.7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens, a 26 per cent increase (+753 445 permits) compared with 2021, Eurostat said. The total value is the highest registered since 2009, topping even the pre-pandemic level observed in 2019 (three million).
“Employment reasons” accounted for 42 per cent of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2022, at about 1.6 million permits, an 18 per cent increase compared with 2021 (+243 617).
“Family reasons” accounted for 24 per cent, “other reasons”, including international protection, accounted for 21 per cent, and “education reasons” for 13 per cent. Compared with 2021, these three main reasons saw substantial increases: “other reasons’’ was up by 37 per cent (+209 074), followed by “education reasons” (+33 per cent; +117 230) and family reasons” (+26 per cent; +183 524).
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 per cent of total permits issued in the EU).
More than 300 000 first permits were also issued by Spain (12 per cent; 457 412 permits;), Italy (nine per cent; 337788) and France (nine per cent; 324 200).
The largest relative increase in the total number of permits issued in 2022, when compared with 2021, was recorded in Germany: +190 per cent (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 per cent; from 14 358 to 37 851) and Ireland (+146 per cent; 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 per cent; from 74 395 to 53 809), with Slovakia (-six per cent; from 29 067 to 27 441) and Hungary (-one per cent; from 58 115 to 57 286).
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 per cent; 188 367), Spain (5 per cent; 168 804), and Italy (4 per cent; 131 275) of total first residence permits.
Germany also topped the list of “other reasons”, with 198 456 permits and five per cent of total first residence permits, followed by Italy (114 256) with 3 per cent.
France issued the most education-related permits (three per cent; 104 777), followed by Germany (70 072) and Spain (58 636), each with 2 per cent of the total.
This data does not include people 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, Eurostat said.
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