Latest figures reveal rise in net migration

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest annual estimates for long-term* migration in and out of the UK, and reveals another significant rise in net migration.

Long-term net migration to the UK has been estimated at 330,000 for the year ending March 2015; this is an increase of 94,000 people when compared to the same 12-month period the previous year. Of this significantly larger number, 13% of immigrants were British citizens, 42% were EU citizens and 45% were non-EU citizens.

All figures in this article refer to the year ending March 2015 unless otherwise indicated.

Work

The main reason for coming to the UK continues be for work purposes. This has almost always been the case and with a total of 290,000 people coming to the UK for work-related reasons, the year ending March 2015 was no exception. Of this number, 63% came with a UK job offer to their name whilst only 37% came looking for work.

Study

Formal study remains the second most popular reason to come to the UK, with a total of 188,000 people travelling to the UK to begin and undertake formal study. The majority of these were non-EU citizens whilst a meagre 24% came from inside the EU (excluding British citizens).

Family

The ONS has estimated that the year in question has seen 46,000 people travel to accompany or join family members in the UK on a long-term basis. This is a decrease in comparison with the previous year which saw 51,000 migrating to the UK for the same reason.

EU

Overall, the net migration of EU citizens (excluding British nationals) to the UK has increased by 29% from 130,000 during the previous year. This increase, although not particularly significant, has been partly driven by EU2 citizens immigrating to the UK.

Non-EU

The latest estimates show that the number of non-EU citizens coming to the UK has risen significantly since the year ending March 2014. Over the following 12-month period, around 196,000 non-EU nationals immigrated to the UK as opposed to the 157,000 who came to the UK the year before.

Visitors

Although not contributing to the year’s long-term migration figures, around 1.85 million visitor visas were granted over this period. Visitors from Omani, Qatar and United Arab Emirates are excluded from this number after the introduction of the Electronic Visa Waiver scheme. This is a decrease of around 2% on last year’s numbers despite a rise in visitor visas being granted to Chinese and Indian nationals.

* Long-term migration is classed as when someone moves to another country for a period of one year or longer