Foreigner numbers by residency status in Germany

Of the foreign population living in Germany, most had no residency status, as they did not need one based on freedom of movement defined by EU laws. The next largest group were those who had applied for a permit.

Foreigners in Germany

Foreigner status is defined by the German constitution in Article 116. Put plainly, foreigners are those who are not German. These include stateless persons and those with unclear citizenship, as well as the population group with a migration background. Individuals with a migration background can either have immigrated into Germany or been born in the country to at least one parent who was born a foreigner. When looking at foreigner numbers in Germany based on country of origin, the most represented countries are Turkey, Ukraine, and Syria.

Migration background

More detailed demographics provide insight into the structure of migration backgrounds in the German population. The share of the population with a migration background in Germany recently amounted to almost 30 percent. When broken down by gender, the number of men with a migration background only just eclipsed that of women as of 2023.

Number of foreigners in Germany in 2023, by residency status

Characteristic	Number of persons
No residency status needed: Freedom of movement based on EU law	5,360,270
Applied for a permit	4,042,570
With a residency status: unlimited permit	2,644,595
No residency status needed: don't need a permit, displaced foreigners	700,875
No residency status: temporary permit	572,465
No residency status: pending	371,985
No residency status: no permit, pending or temporary	193,970
With a residency status: limited permit	9,125

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Release date

May 2024

More information

Region

Germany

Survey time period

December 31, 2022

Special properties

According to the central register for foreign nationals

Supplementary notes

Foreign population according to the Central Register of Foreign Nationals (Ausländerzentralregister (AZR)) as of December 31, 2023.
Based on the Central Register of Foreign Nationals, statistics on foreigners were rounded up to the nearest multiple of five, due to demands for statistical privacy and personal data protection in population statistics publications.

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