Eurostat data on first residence permits reveal inter alia that:

• In 2022, more than 1,5 million first-residence permits were issued for employment-related reasons, representing 42.5 % of all first residence permits issued. Family reasons accounted for 24 %, education reasons for 12.7 %, while other reasons, including international protection, accounted for 20.8 %.
   
• Germany topped the list of first residence permits granted in the EU to non-EU citizens, issuing near 538 690 permits (14.6 % of total permits issued in the EU). More than 300 000 first permits were issued also by Spain with 457 412 permits (12.4 %), Italy with 337 788 (9.2 %) and France with 324 200 (8.8 %). These four countries accounted for almost 45 % of all first residence permits issued in the EU in 2022.
   
• In 2022, the highest share of first residence permits was issued for employment related reasons in 14 EU Member States, with significant numbers in Romania (73.6 %), Malta (72.8 %) and Slovakia (70.5 %). The most common destinations for work in 2022 were Spain (145 314 permits), Germany (81 795 permits) and Italy (66 791 permits).
   
• Family-related reasons were the most common reasons for issuing residence permits in nine of the Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Sweden). In Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece and Sweden, family-related reasons accounted for more than 40 % of all the permits issued at national level.
   
• Ireland and France were the only two EU Member States where the most common reason for granting a residence permit was education-related, respectively 48.4 % and 32.3 %.

For more detailed information, please visit this webpage and read this press release.