The French Ministry of the Interior recently unveiled the final statistics for immigration in 2023. Each year, the General Directorate for Foreigners in France draws up its report on immigration, asylum applications, and access to French nationality.
It is important to remember that the first provisional figures were published in January, then the General Directorate for Foreigners in France published a new update at the end of June 2024.
France visa and residence permits: Algerians in the top 5 beneficiaries in 2023
During the year 2023, France issued a total of 2.4 million visas compared to 1.4 million documents granted in 2022. An increase of 40.4%. Despite this increase, these figures remain well below the number of visas granted before the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
Figures from the French Ministry of the Interior reveal a significant increase in the number of visas granted to Algerian nationals. Indeed, the French government issued a total of 209,708 visas to Algerians in 2023, an increase of more than 59.8% compared to 2022 (131,264 visas granted). With this granting rate, Algerians come in 4th place on the list of the largest beneficiaries in France, behind the Chinese, Moroccans, and Indians.
Algerian nationals are also among the top 5 nationalities that obtained the most residence permits in France. According to the ministry’s data, 326,954 first residence permits were issued during the year 2023, a slight increase of 2.5 compared to 2022.
Here is the number of Algerians naturalized in 2023
Furthermore, the most frequent reason for granting residence permits is to students. The main beneficiaries of these first residence permits in France are Moroccans (36,648), Algerians (31,943), and Tunisians (22,639).
Regarding naturalizations, a total of 97,288 people acquired French nationality, by decree or declaration, in 2023, a decrease of 15% compared to 2022. Algerians are also among the biggest beneficiaries and come in 2nd place behind Moroccans (8,017 naturalizations).
Indeed, in 2023, the number of naturalized Algerians amounted to 6,737 people, including 3,366 by decree and 3,371 by declaration (marriage, ascendants of French people, etc.).
