The Ministry of the Interior published this annual immigration report on Tuesday, February 4, February 4. Certain nationalities are more represented than others, especially with regard to requests for a residence permit or renewal.
“The foreign presence in regular situations on French territory increased by 3.9 %” between 2023 and 2024 according to the report of the Interior Ministry on Immigration in France published on Tuesday, February 4. And indeed, if we combine the number of titles of stays, visas or even asylum requests granted, then the trend is upward: the number of new residence permits increased by 1.8% and that of titles Renewed by 2.4%, the number of visas climbed by 16.8%while asylum requests fell by 5.5%. Note that despite this apparent increase, the share of foreign people in France remains very minority. In 2023, INSEE estimated at 5.6 million the number of people of foreign origin living in France over a total population of 68.1 million.
But if the number of immigrants coming to France increases, all these people do not come for the same reasons, evidenced by the various documents allowing to stay legally in in the country and especially the profile of foreigners already present and new arrivals.
First, family and economic reasons
According to the report of the Ministry of the Interior, the largest number of authorizations to stay in France, up to 879,790 titles issued, was granted via renewal of stays of stays, that is to say to Foreign persons who already lived legally in France in 2023. Among these people, a majority saw its title renewed for family reasons (37%) and another large part has advanced economic reasons such as work (22%). If family reasons remain the first justification for the renewal of titles, it tends to decrease, while the economic reasons have increased by 10 points compared to 2023. It is also necessary to note a share of students (16%) which renew their residence permit to follow their studies.
After the renewal of securities, it is the deliveries of stay titles to first-time arrivals that are the most numerous: 336,710 new people obtained them in 2024. These are students in more than a third of cases (32%) and then people coming for family reasons (27%) and finally for economic reasons (17%). But if the number of first residence permits has increased it is mainly by increasing the number of people welcomed for humanitarian reasons which climbed 13.5%.
Among the foreigners in regular situations in France, it is also necessary to count asylum seekers. These are fewer in 2024 than in 2023 with 130,952 requests granted to new people and 26,995 reviews. The reasons for the migration of these people are specified as of the name of their regularization title: they require asylum after fled a country at war (most often) or dangerous and/or too difficult conditions of life. Finally, concerning undocumented migrants, 31,250 undocumented migrants were regularized in 2024, a decrease of 10% compared to last year.
Origin of foreigners: three countries stand out
If they come for various reasons, foreigners living in France also arrive from various horizons although certain nationalities are more represented than others. This is the case with regard to requests for a residence permit or renewal where, according to the Ministry of the Interior, three nationalities occupy the podium: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, in this order. The geographic proximity between these Maghreb countries and France explains this proportion. Note that if the Algerians have seen their number drop among the first-time arrivals (-9%), it has increased within applicants for a renewal of their title (+24%).
In addition to this trio, other nationalities are more represented than others: China, the United States (+5%), Afghanistan (+7.9%), Côte d’Ivoire, India ( +8%), Senegal (-9%) and Cameroon (+9%). These ten countries alone represent 50.5% of applicants for a first residence permit. As for asylum requests, the ministry reports a decrease of 5.5% with 157,947 files. A decrease which is explained in particular by a decrease “of 45% of dublin requests”, in other words, those formulated “in another country where the applicant went initially”, explains Guillaume Mordant, the chief of the statistical department of the General Management Foreigners in France (DGEF). Finally, Ukraine is now the first nationality in terms of nationals requiring asylum, it has passed in front of Afghanistan. Ukrainian demand has multiplied by 4 in one year and reached 13,350 requests.