UK migration ranges: What do the most recent obtainable numbers present?
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ew estimates of web migration to the UK are as a result of be revealed on May 25, however the newest obtainable figures present ranges are already at a file excessive.
Total web migration within the 12 months to June 2022 – the distinction between the variety of folks shifting to the UK and the quantity leaving the nation – stood at an estimated 504,000, up sharply from 173,000 within the yr to June 2021.
The rise was pushed by a sequence of “unprecedented world events”, based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which compiled the estimates.
These embrace the conflict in Ukraine, the top of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the resettlement of Afghan refugees, the brand new visa route for British nationals from Hong Kong, and college students arriving from outdoors the European Union.
The ONS described this assortment of things as “unique”.
The figures to be launched on May 25 will cowl the 12 months to December 2022 and are prone to mirror the continuing affect of those components.
A complete of 1.1 million folks had been estimated to have migrated to the UK within the yr to June 2022, the bulk – 704,000 – from outdoors the EU.
By distinction, 560,000 folks had been estimated to have migrated from the UK in the identical interval, nearly half of them – 275,000 – going again to the EU.
The imbalance meant that, whereas way more non-EU nationals had been prone to have arrived within the UK than left throughout these 12 months, the reverse was true for EU nationals, with extra leaving than arriving.
Recent ranges of migration can’t be in contrast straight with figures from earlier than 2020, because the ONS has modified and improved the strategies it makes use of to provide its estimates.
The newest figures additionally don’t embrace the estimated 35,000 individuals who arrived within the UK by small boats within the 12 months to June 2022, nearly all of who utilized for asylum.
This is as a result of additional work must be achieved by the ONS to make sure these arrivals are accurately mirrored within the long-term migration information.
People arriving on research visas accounted for the biggest proportion (39%) of long-term immigration of non-EU nationals within the yr to June 2022, at 277,000 folks.
This is up from 143,000 within the earlier 12 months.
This could mirror “built-up demand” from worldwide college students who wished to journey to the UK however studied remotely within the early phases of the pandemic, the ONS mentioned.
The enhance may also be influenced by the brand new graduate visa route, the place college students can apply to work within the UK for as much as three years after finishing their research.
The second-largest proportion of non-EU immigration within the yr to June 2022 was by folks on “other” visas, at 276,000, up from 91,000 within the yr to June 2021.
This consists of all those that arrived within the UK on visas categorized as household, safety, settlement or go to – and people who have come for humanitarian causes, corresponding to from Ukraine.
The variety of non-EU nationals arriving for work causes within the 12 months to June 2022 was estimated at 151,000, up year-on-year from 92,000.
Separate figures launched by the Home Office in February 2023 confirmed that almost one-and-a-half million visas had been issued within the yr to December 2022 to folks coming to the UK for work, research or household causes, or by means of one of many Government’s settlement schemes.
Some 423,013 work visas had been granted, together with 626,551 research visas and 48,107 household visas, plus 5,055 visas for dependants becoming a member of or accompanying others.
In addition, 210,906 had been issued underneath the Ukraine visa schemes, 53,836 had been granted to British National (Overseas) standing holders from Hong Kong, 34,338 had been underneath the EU Settlement Scheme, and three,903 had been underneath different settlement schemes.
The mixed whole of 1,405,709 visas in 2022 is up 64% from 858,869 in 2021 and is the sixth successive file excessive for a 12-month interval since present figures started in 2005.