More than 3.7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens in 2023, out of which about 34 thousand by Cyprus, and most permits issued on an EU level and in Cyprus were given for reasons of education, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.

In Cyprus there was also a significant increase in residence permits issued for educational reasons, and an important decrease in the category of other reasons, which include international protection.

Most new residence permit in Cyprus were for citizens of Russia, India and Nepal. Cyprus also had the third largest number of residence permits for Russians, in absolute numbers, after Germany and Spain.

More specifically, in Cyprus in 2023 there was a 10.9% decrease in new residence permits compared to 2022 (from 38,917 to 34,694). This is the first reduction recorded since 2013 (with the exception of a dip in 2020).

During the same period in the EU, there was a 4.7% increase in new residence permits, which reached the highest number recorded to date in 2023.

Employment remained the main reason for issuing residence permits in 2023, accounting for 33.8% (1.3 million) of all first residence permits issued, indicating a modest decrease compared with 2022 (-0.4%; -4 662).

Family reasons accounted for 26.4% (986 453) of all permits, reflecting a 6.4% increase (+58 943) compared with 2022. Other reasons, including international protection, made up nearly the same share (25.6%; 956 646), with a 5.3% rise (+48 406). Education reasons represented 14.3% (534 558) of all first residence permits, representing the largest overall increase of 13.5% (+63 674).

In Cyprus, employment accounted for 48.6% of total permits in 2023 (16,874, - 12.2% or -2,347 compared to 2022), followed by family reason with 24.7% (8,564, +2.3% or +193), other reasons with 18.6% (6,446, -31.2% or -2,923), and education with 8.1% (2,810) where the largest increase was also recorded (+43.7% or +854).

In 2023, the highest number of first residence permits was issued to citizens of Ukraine (307,313), followed by Belarus (281,279) India (207,966), Morocco (179,195), Syria (168,667), Turkey (122,128) and Russia (115,651).

In Cyprus, most first residence permits in 2023 were issued for citizens of Russia (12,029), India (3,852) and Nepal (3,148), followed by Sri Lanka (2,147), Syria (1,846), the Philippines (1,778) and Egypt (1,261).

On the EU level,  looking at the top 10 countries of citizenship of those granted residence permits, employment was the most frequent reason for nationals of Ukraine (71.7%), Belarus (52.3%), India (45.2%) and Türkiye (31.8%). Other reasons, including international protection, dominated for citizens of Syria (77.3%) and Afghanistan (85.1%). Family reasons accounted for the largest share of permits for nationals of Morocco (50.3%), Russia (39.4%) and Brazil (35.3%), while nationals of China were mostly granted permits for education reasons (37.8%).

When it comes to the first ten countries of citizenship of those granted residence permits in Cyprus, the most frequent reason in most countries were family reasons (Russia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Egypt, Ukraine, Israel and Belarus). Most permits for citizens of India and Nepal were issued for educational reasons, while most permits for Syrians were under other reasons.