Moroccans are among the top 10 expat nationalities who have been granted nationality in their European countries of residence by the end of 2021, totaling 150,100 permits, 50% of which were issued in Spain.
According to Eurostat’s recent data, almost 3 million (2,952,300) first residence permits were issued by the end of 2021 in the EU to non-EU citizens.
The number increased by 31% (or +693,700) compared to 2020, reaching the pre-pandemic level observed in 2019 (2,955,300), added the same source.
First-residence permits issued for employment-related reasons hit a record high, accounting for 45% in 2021, with 1.3 million permits.
This data represents an increase of 47% (+429 100) compared with 2020, the highest number of permits issued for employment reasons since the beginning of the time series, said the same source.
In terms of nationalities, a total of 875 800 Ukrainians received first residence permits in the EU countries in 2021, making them the largest citizenship group among all recipients (of which 83% were issued by Poland).
Belarus ranked behind Morocco (149 000, of which 88% were issued in Poland, added Eurostat.
Citizens of these countries accounted for 40% of all first residence permits issued in 2021.
Top 10 citizenships granted permits in the EU in 2021
Employment was the main reason for permits issued to Ukrainians (88% of all first residence permits, ahead of Belarusians (47%), Indians (41%) and Russians (35%).
Family was the prevailing reason for permits granted to Moroccans (59%), Brazilians (41%) and Turks (33%) and permits for education were primarily issued to Chinese (43%) and Americans (32%).
Other reasons were predominant for Syrians (74%), added the same source.
Family reasons accounted for 24%, followed by education reasons for 12%, while other reasons, including international protection, accounted for 19%, added the same source.
Eurostat stated that this information comes from data on first residence permits.
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