European countries issued some 3.57 million first residency permits in 2024, according to new statistics from Eurostat.
The data refers to new permit authorisations issued by national authorities to non-EU citizens that allows them to stay in the country for employment, family, education or other reasons, so they can be interpreted as how many third-country people moved to live in a certain country.
The data, however, also include permits issued because of a change to a previous residency status or reissued after a gap of at least six months.
As British, US, Canadian, Australian and Indian citizens are among our most common readers, we have looked into the data about which states in Europe the tens of thousands of citizens from these countries made their homes in 2024. We also included data on those who moved from South Africa and New Zealand in 2024.
For British and Australian citizens, the most common reason to obtain a residency permit was employment (30 and 29 percent, respectively), while for US and Canadian citizens, it was education (38 and 37 percent).
UK citizens
The latest Eurostat data show that some 43,600 British citizens obtained a first residency permit in the EU in 2024. That reflects a similar figure to the number of Brits who have moved in the three previous years, although it's far fewer than the 90,000 who were given first residency permits in 2021 in the aftermath of Brexit.
Spain was the country that issued the largest number of new permits to British citizens (12,653), a significant increase from 10,166 in 2023. France (8,073), Germany (3,753), and the Netherlands (3,445) followed. For Germany, the number dropped from 5,309 in 2023.
The top following countries were Switzerland (3,068), Portugal (2,587), Denmark (1,864), Sweden (1,726), Italy (1,460), Norway (1,270), Cyprus (936), Belgium (928), Bulgaria (842), Poland (729), Greece (671) and Finland (573). Additionally, 532 Britons were granted first-time residency permits in Austria last year.
US citizens
Just over 80,300 US citizens were issued a first residency permit in EU countries in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The largest number was granted in Spain (15,638), France (13,062), Germany (8,507), the Netherlands (6,732), and Denmark (5,183). They were followed by Italy (5,049), Ireland (4,773) and Portugal (4,345).
In Denmark and Switzerland (4,339), US citizens were the top nationality to be issued a first residency permit. US citizens were also in the top 5 in France, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Iceland and the Netherlands.
Additionally, 1,083 US citizens moved to Norway, 2,746 to Sweden and 1,250 to Austria.
Canadian citizens
Some 15,400 Canadian citizens obtained a residency permit for the first time in an EU country, with France by far the most popular destination, followed by Spain and the Netherlands.
The 1,883 first residency permits issued to Canadians by Spain were almost double the number compared to pre-pandemic levels, and a significant increase was also recorded for France, where 3,461 Canadians received first-time residency permits.
Elsewhere, Germany welcomed 1,560 Canadians, Switzerland 1,227, Denmark 1,008, Italy 409, Sweden 832, Norway 361 and Austria 235.
Australian citizens
Last year, some 9,400 Australians obtained a residency permit for the first time in the EU, with the Netherlands, France and Germany issuing the most. The number of Australians given permits by France was 1,235, whilst Germany handed out slightly fewer - 1,164.
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