Belarusians received 309K primary residence permits in EU in 2022

According to calculations of Zerkalo journalists who analyzed the data of Eurostat, Belarusians received 309 thousand primary residence permits in the European Union in 2022.  

Our compatriots take the second place after Ukrainians who have received about 360 thousand such permits.

Last year the EU issued about 3.5 million such permits to foreigners. Belarusians received about 9% of the total number of documents issued.

Primary or first residence permit does not mean only the residence permit itself. This category includes all other documents authorizing long-term (three months or more) uninterrupted stay on the territory of any EU country. Thus, in addition to different types of residence permits, national visas (including humanitarian, work, study, etc.) are also included in the statistics.

Such documents are considered primary if they are issued to a person for the first time or at least six months have passed between the expiration of the old permit and the beginning of the new one.

Poland ranks first in issuing documents to Belarusians: last year it issued 285,496 residence permits to Belarusians, or 92% of the total issued in the EU. The second place is occupied by Lithuania - 13,006 permits in 2022. The third place is occupied by Germany - 1978 permits issued last year.

Almost all countries have increased the number of residence permits issued to Belarusians. Only three countries - the Czech Republic, Latvia and Estonia - reduced the number of documents issued.