According to Eurostat data, in 2021, 33,212 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina received a residence permit in the European Union for the first time, which is less than the year before in 1982 and 23,151 less than in 2019, writes Vecernji list BiH.
In the region last year, for the first time in the European Union, the most residence permits were issued to citizens of Albania, followed by Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in third place. Citizens of North Macedonia are in fourth place when it comes to the number of residence permits issued for the first time, while Montenegrins are in fifth place, writes Bloomberg.
According to Eurostat data, in 2021, EU countries issued almost three million (2,952,300) residence permits for the first time to citizens of countries outside the EU.
The number increased by 31 percent or 693,700 compared to 2020, reaching the pre-pandemic level of 2,955,300. Residence permits issued for the first time for reasons of employment reached a record value. As much as 45 percent of the total number of residence permits issued for the first time in 2021 was due to employment (1.3 million permits).
In 2018 alone, 53,520 BiH citizens received a residence permit in one of the EU member states for the first time. For the sake of comparison, it is twice as much as, for example, the town of Konjic had inhabitants according to the last census (slightly more than 26,000 inhabitants).
The largest number of residence permits in Bosnia and Herzegovina. citizens were issued by Germany – 16,523. Right behind Germany is Slovenia with more than 15,000 issued residence permits (15,714). In third place is Croatia, which issued 12,996 residence permits to Bosnians and Herzegovinans last year.
At least 221,576 citizens of BiH in the period from 2009 to 2018 received a residence permit for the first time in one of the member states of the European Union. The growing trend of the departure of people from Bosnia and Herzegovina is sufficiently illustrated by the data that the number of residence permits in 2009 was 12,648, in 2010 11,013, in 2011 11,717, in 2012 – 14,586, in 2013 – 16,440, in 2014 – 18,688, and In 2016 – 26,395 permits.
The coronavirus pandemic only slowed down, but did not stop, the departure of young people from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Neither events in the world nor the shaky economy of Europe prevented local workers from fleeing Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as the borders opened, which is also confirmed by the fact that in three months, more than 5,000 people left the country, having found work in only two foreign countries – Slovenia and Germany.
On average, 1,682 people left per month, or 56 per day.
