Net immigration to the UK reached a historic record of 504,000 people in the twelve months to June this year, a period in which EU nationals in the country fell by 51,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported Thursday (24.112022). .
The increase in net migration – the difference between those arriving in the UK (1.06 million) and those leaving (560,000) – is partly due to the arrival of refugees from Ukraine (89,000) and Afghanistan (21,000), and the special visa program for Hong Kong nationals (76,000).
The increase in student visas also contributed, particularly from India (118,000), China (115,000) and Nigeria (65,000). The net migration figure exceeds the previous record of 336,000 people, recorded in 2015, and is more than double compared to the 12 months leading up to June 2021 (239,000).
During the period studied, in addition to the decrease in the number of Europeans living in the UK, there was also a net emigration of 45,000 Britons who decided to leave the country.
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said there were “some unique and unprecedented circumstances that have had a significant impact on the statistics”. The prime minister “said he wanted to reduce net immigration,” but he “did not specify a specific time period” to achieve this.
Madeleine Sumption, director of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, told the BBC: “All analysis indicates that immigration will decline as a result of post-Brexit immigration policies.”
He added that these laws “significantly restrict the options available to EU citizens to come to the UK and certainly net immigration from the EU is negative”. She said that “the humanitarian routes to Ukraine and Hong Kong, along with the recovery of international students, have played a larger role in the increase in immigration levels.” (EFE)
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