A total of 4,075 foreigners obtained Belgian citizenship in July, the Belgian statistics office, StatBel, has revealed.
The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian citizenship during this period were Morocco, Syria, Romania, Italy, and Afghanistan, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to Eurostat, the EU Office for Statistics, the naturalisation rate in the EU is the fifth highest, with 2.7 people receiving Belgian citizenship for every 100 non-Belgian residents.
In total, 39,233 people acquired Belgian citizenship in 2021, 15.6 per cent more than in the previous year when 33,915 people had obtained citizenship.
Morocco was and remained the main country of origin for those acquiring EU citizenship, as 86,200 candidates were naturalised, with 71 per cent of those acquiring citizenship in Spain or France.
Belgium is the fourth country to have granted citizenship the most to Moroccans in 2021, with them representing 4.3 per cent of all naturalisations in the EU countries for the year. In total, around 3,698 Moroccans became Belgian citizens in 2021.
Around 3,385 Syrian nationals obtained Belgian citizenship during the same year, making Belgium the fourth EU country to naturalise the most Syrian nationals.
As per EU citizens who changed their nationality in 2021, the majority of those were Romanians (1,986), while out of Belgium’s neighbouring countries, some 1,010 Brits, 1,040 Dutch, 1,038 French, and 229 Germans received Belgian citizenship.
In general, 827,300 people became EU citizens in 2021, with 30 per cent of them being Moroccans, Syrians, Albanians, Turks, and Brazilians, while the median age for half of those acquiring citizenship was 32.
In addition, Spain granted 17 per cent of all citizenship requests in Europe for the year, followed by France (16 per cent), Germany (16 per cent), Italy (15 per cent), and Sweden (11 per cent), showing that 75 per cent of all requests for citizenship were granted from these five countries.
According to the Passport Index by VisaGuide.World, the Belgian passport is the 18th strongest document in the world, enabling its holders visa-free travel to 106 countries. It has a passport score of 88.48 points and makes it possible for Belgian passport holders to travel to 41 countries without a passport, another 28 with a visa-on-arrival, and ten countries require Belgians to provide an e-Travel Authorisation.
While there is no entry ban in place for Belgian passport holders, a visa is required for visits to 20 countries in the world.