There has been a sharp fall in net migration, newly released figures by the Office for National Statistics show.
Net migration now stands at 728,000 for the year to June 2024, a reduction of 20% on the previous 12 months, down from 906,000.
The largest single driver behind the fall is a declining number of dependants arriving on study visas. From January 2024 many students were prohibited from bringing them with them, under visa changes by the then Conservative government.
In the year to June 2024, about 94,000 fewer people applied to travel to the UK on study visas than in the previous 12 months, according to Home Office data from earlier this month.
Care workers were also barred from bringing in dependants, under visa changes in March 2024.
Skilled worker visa applications increased slightly over the same period, with a noticeable rise before a government shake-up of the jobs this visa applies to in April 2024. Applications have fallen since.
In the year to June 2024, about 94,000 fewer people applied to travel to the UK on study visas than in the previous 12 months, according to Home Office data from earlier this month.
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Of the 1.2 million people who came to live in the UK in the year ending June 2024 around 86% (1 million) were non-EU nationals, 10% (116,000) were EU nationals and 5% (58,000) were British nationals.
About 845,000 of new arrivals (82%) were of working age (16 to 64 years) and 17% (179,000) were children (under 16 years)
Indian was the most common nationality for non-EU immigration for both work-related (116,000) and study-related (127,000) reasons.
The number of work dependants who came to the UK (233,000, 23% of non-EU+ nationals) was higher than work main applicants. This was up from 166,000 in the year ending June 2023, but the most recent data points show early signs of a fall, said the ONS.
Rising numbers are also leaving the country: the ONS’s provisional estimate of long-term emigration for the year ending June 2024 was 479,000. This was higher than the estimate of 414,000 in the year ending June 2023.
Of the 479,000 people who left the UK by the end of June 2024, 44% (211,000) were EU nationals, 39% (189,000) were non-EU nationals and 16% (79,000) were British nationals.
Rose Carey, partner and head of immigration at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys said it needed to be established exactly what was the UK’s ideal amount of net migration. She said: “The prime minister has commented that the net migration figure is still too high and made promises to reduce it further. Each successive government fails to address exactly what the right amount of net migration is based in the UK’s needs and aging population. Almost 20% of the UK population were aged over 65 in 2022, meaning nearly a fifth are over retirement age. This presents a problem not only for the care sector and the NHS in their ability to provide services for our aging population but also the economy and the shortage of workers generally.”
Carey added that Skills for Care had revealed in its report that 540,000 social care staff would be needed by 2040 to cope with rising demand. The sector was currently 131,000 short of staff, she said, and the UK had a labour shortage which was hitting certain sectors harder than others such as care, hospitality, construction and manufacturing. ONS reported that over 13% of businesses reported labour shortages.
She said: “The prime minister says he will ‘imminently’ publish a white paper that sets out a plan to reduce immigration. He says his government will turn things around, ‘not with gimmicks, but with graft.’ Let us hope that paper takes into account the realities facing the UK and deals with the problem of labour shortages at the same time.”
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