Fall in immigration of non-EU citizens
The latest Government figures reveal that there was a fall in the numbers of non-EU citizens immigrating to the UK in the year to September 2013 – down to 244,000 from 269,000 in the preceding year.
According to the Office for National Statistics, this is down to a fall in the number of people from New Commonwealth countries coming to the UK to study.
The statistics reveal that over the same period:
- The net flow of long-term migrants to the UK increased from 154,000 to 212,000.
- Overall 532,000 people immigrated to the UK and 320,000 emigrated from the UK.
- 209,000 of the immigrants were from EU countries – up from 149,000 in the previous year.
- There were 23,000 more immigrants from the EU15 countries than in the previous year, amounting to 65,000 in all.
- Immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria increased from 9,000 in the year ending September 2012 to 24,000.
- The number of work visas granted increased by 9,750, while study visas also increased (+9,024) However, the number of family visas granted fell by 7,202.
- Asylum applications to the UK increased by 8% to 23,507, driven by increases in applications from Syria, Eritrea and Albania.
