The French Ministry of the Interior published final statistics on visas in 2023 on Thursday June 27. Morocco is the second beneficiary country after China. The Kingdom is the first country to which France has issued the most first residence permits with a figure of 36,648. The details.
The final statistics concerning visas, asylum requests as well as acquisitions of French nationality in France in 2023 were published Thursday June 27, 2024 by the Directorate General for Foreigners in France reporting to the Ministry of the Interior. Thus, France has issued 241,544 visas to Moroccans, a figure up 69% compared to the year 2022 (142,921 visas). In first position is China with 371,151 visas issued in 2023, a figure up 271%. In third position, we find India with 213,475 visas (+34.6%). For its part, Algeria comes in 4th position with 209,723 visas (+59.8%). Among other nationalities, Turkey comes in 5th place with 130,834 visas, a figure up 26.6%. Russia comes in 6th place with 116,246 visas. Next come Saudi Arabia (109,779 visas), Tunisia (97,850), Lebanon (60,373). These statistics reveal that the largest number of visas issued in 2023 concerns Chinese nationals, following a significant increase over the last two years (+327% in 2022 and +271% in 2023). The Directorate General for Foreigners notes that this increase in visas granted to Chinese nationals alone explains nearly 40% of the total increase in visas issued. The total number of visas requested stood at 2,972,988 in 2023 compared to 2,337,173 in 2022, a figure up 27.2%. As for the total number of visas refused, this stood at 506,611 compared to 500,251 in 2022, an increase of 1.3%. The number of visas issued stood at 2,439,822 in 2023 compared to 1,738,138 in 2022, which represents an increase of 40.4%. Despite a significant increase in visas requested (+27.2%) and issued (+40.4%), the volumes for 2023 still remain far from those before the health crisis, the level being comparable to that of 2013. A note that in 2023, nearly 300,000 long-stay visas have been allocated. As for short-stay visas, their number stood at 2,139,714 in 2023 compared to 1,453,586 in 2022, an increase of 47.2%. The pace is particularly dynamic for visas issued for “tourist” (+57.7%) and “economic” (+42.3%) reasons.
326,954 first residence permits
France issued 326,954 first residence permits in 2023 compared to 318,926 in 2022. Please note that these are provisional figures. The final figures will not be published until January 2025. Nationals of Maghreb countries are still the most numerous among new holders of a residence permit. In 2023, nearly three out of ten new permits are granted to them. Thus, Moroccan and Algerian nationals remain the most numerous among beneficiaries of first residence permits in France. According to provisional data, Morocco is the first country in 2023 to which France issued the most first residence permits with a figure that stands at 36,648 compared to 39,254 in 2022, a decrease of 6.6%. Algerians come in second place with 31,943 first residence permits (+9.1%) and Tunisians are in 3rd position (22,639, +3.6%). Next come nationals from China with 14,602 first residence permits and the United States (12,153).
It should be noted that the main reason for issuing residence permits remains student reasons with 108,375 first permits issued in 2023, or a third of the total. For the second consecutive year, economic permits are ahead of humanitarian permits (respectively 54,572 and 46,425). Only permits issued for family reasons recorded a decrease (-5.1%).
This is the title of the box
7 million immigrants live in France
Insee The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) estimates that in 2022, 7 million immigrants live in France, or 10.3% of the total population. 2.5 million immigrants, or 36.0% of them, are French. They acquired French nationality since their arrival in France. For its part, the foreign population living in France amounts to 5.3 million people, or 7.8% of the total population. It is made up of 4.5 million immigrants who have not acquired French nationality and 0.8 million people born in France with foreign nationality. It should be noted that 48% of immigrants were born in Africa, 33% in Europe, 14% in Asia and 6% in America and Oceania. Half are aged 25 to 54. Immigrant women are slightly more numerous than men.
