Non-EU residents were more likely to be issued a family reunification permit, or a refugee permit to live in Belgium than one to work in 2025, according to new figures released by European statistics agency Eurostat at the end of last week.
While on average across EU countries 32.4% of permits were granted for family reunification, in Belgium the figure is much higher, at 56.2% – the largest share across all EU Member States, followed by Luxembourg and Sweden (both at 51.5%).
In total, Belgium issued 300,906 residence permits for family reunification in 2025, 77,416 for refugee protection and just 50,512 for employment reasons.
The share of permits granted for employment reasons (9.4%) puts Belgium near the bottom of the list across the EU, against an EU average of 22.3%.
Countries such as Croatia (79%) and Lithuania (68.1%) stand out at the top of the list for work permits.
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Belgium is in line with the EU average (14.8%) on the share of permits for refugee and protection status at 16.3%, but the EU average for employment permits is higher.
In recent days, the issue of family reunification has become politically sensitive following the case of 13 Palestinian students stuck in Gaza holding a scholarship to study in Belgium.
Belgium's Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) argued that if these 13 students were allowed to come to Belgium, there could be a potential "domino effect" as the students could facilitate the arrival of other Gazans through family reunification.
120% growth in work permits since 2016
Just under 28 million non-EU citizens held an EU residence permit at the end of 2025, according to Eurostat, a figure that has grown 53.4% since 2016.
The majority of that growth has come from employment permits (+120.7%) and education (+96.8%). For family reunification, the figure has grown more slowly at 28.6%.
Germany, France and Spain have the largest 'stock' of residence permits of all types given to non-EU citizens.
"Moroccan (2.2 million), Turkish (2.0 million) and Ukrainian (1.7 million) citizens were the three main citizenships holding residence permits in the EU at the end of 2025," according to Eurostat.
Beyond citizens from those three countries, the other nationalities rounding out the top 10 are China (including Hong Kong), Syria, India, the United Kingdom, Russia, Albania and Algeria.
