EU residence permits rise sharply in 2025, Brazil ranks fourth with 170,400 approvals
In 2025 the European Union granted more residence permits than the previous year, with employment leading the reasons and Brazil placed fourth among nationalities.
According to Eurostat, the EU saw a rise in first-time residence permits in 2025, with employment reasons representing roughly one-third of the total, or about 1.3 million authorisations. Family-related permits numbered around 1.1 million, while other categories—including asylum and other protection—accounted for 900,000, and education-related permits reached 600,000. Compared with the previous year, permits for work grew by 16.1%, family reasons by 14.1%, and education by 9.0%, while the ‘other motives’ segment fell slightly by 0.9%. Brazilian citizens obtained 170,400 residence permits, ranking fourth after Ukrainians, Indians and Moroccans.
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