Record migration was even higher than previously thought

border controls

Net migration was higher than previously thought, hitting a record of 764,000 in 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, net migration, the difference between those entering the UK and leaving, fell by 10 per cent last year to 685,000.

The 685,000 total for the year to December 2023 is still the third highest on record and nearly three times the level in 2019, when the Tories pledged to reduce migration in their election manifesto.

The ONS said some 1.22 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year ending December 2023 to work, live or study, while 532,000 left.

This compares with 1.26 million who arrived in the UK in the year to December 2022 and 493,000 who left, giving a rounded net total of 764,000, a revision of the ONS’s previous estimate for the year of 745,000.

Last year’s fall will be seen as a boost for Rishi Sunak in his attempt to rein in record levels of net migration through measures including bans on foreign workers and students bringing in dependants.

James Cleverly. the Home Secretary, claimed the 10 per cent fall in net migration and 25 per cent drop in visa applications this year showed the Prime Minister’s plan was working.

“The choice is clear in this election – sticking with our bold, clear plan to control immigration with Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives or going back to square one with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party who don’t believe in immigration controls, want an illegal immigration amnesty and have no plan to stop the boats,” he said.

The figures do not reflect the full impact of the new visa restrictions, which only started to take effect from January. Home Office figures on Wednesday showed a fall in work and study visas of 25 per cent in the first four months of this year.

The revision of the record net migration of 764,000 in 2022 was because of more people staying for longer than the ONS had originally estimated. It is based on real numbers rather than estimates from historical trends.

ONS officials attributed the fall to the increasing numbers of people emigrating from the UK, the bulk of whom were foreign students returning to their home countries after completing their studies.

The estimates show that non-EU immigration for work-related reasons increased from 277,000 in the year to December 2022 to 423,000 in the year to December 2023, replacing study as the main reason for long-term migration.

More than four out of 10 people moving to the UK for work-related reasons last year came from India or Nigeria, most commonly in the health and social care sector.

The number of non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas was higher last year than the number of main applicants, at 219,000 and 204,000 respectively.

Government ‘disastrously failed’

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said there had been a 50 per cent increase in foreign workers coming to the UK in the last year alone because the Government had “disastrously failed to tackle skills shortages.”

‌“Labour will bring in proper plans to link the points-based immigration system with boosting skills here at home,” she said.

Home Office data showed that the number of work visas granted rose to a record high of 315,018 in the year to March 2024, more than double - 130 per cent - the number prior to the pandemic. They brought more than 290,000 dependants, 55 per cent more than the previous year.

Skilled health and care worker visas accounted for the biggest number at 118,522, up 16 per cent on the previous year’s 101,380.

For work visa applicants, Indians represented the largest proportion (64,992) followed by Nigerians (23,404) and Pakistanis (20,344). Overall, just 7.2 per cent of work visas went to EU citizens, with 33.6 per cent to South Asians, 22.4 per cent to Africans,, 5.8 per cent to North and South Americans and 19.8 per cent to other Asians.

There was a six per cent drop in the number of foreign students in the year to March 2024, to 446,924 but it was still 66 per cent higher than during the Covid pandemic.

The data showed the asylum backlog has fallen by 35 per cent to 86,460 cases comprising 118,329 adults and children. There were also 14 per cent asylum applications in the year ending March 2024, at 69,298, in part due to a decrease in claims from Albanian small boat arrivals.

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