According to the EU statistical office, there was a 10.1% growth in residence permits in the European Union. The predominant factor for granting new titles was employment, which accounted for approximately one-third of the total first titles issued in 2025, totaling 1.3 million or 33.6%.
Family reasons were the second most frequent reason, accounting for 1.1 million new permits (28.1%). Other motivations included international protection, which represented 900,000 or 22.8% of cases. The remaining first titles were granted for educational reasons, totaling 600,000, or 15.5%.
When comparing with 2024 data, an increase was observed in employment-related residence permits in 2025, which rose by 16.1%. Permits issued for family reasons grew by 14.1%, while those related to education saw an increase of 9.0%. On the other hand, the category called 'other reasons,' which includes asylum seekers, registered a decline of 0.9%.
Regarding Brazilian citizens, they held the fourth position last year in terms of EU residence visas, with 170,400 registrations. They were behind Ukrainian citizens (335,100), Indian citizens (227,600), and Moroccan citizens (202,100).
A residence permit is defined as any permission valid for a minimum period of three months, issued by the authorities of an EU Member State, which grants a national of a third country the right to legally stay in European territory.