LONDON: Indians made up the highest number of people — 250, 000 — to relocate to Britain in 2023. Of these, 127, 000 Indians came to work and 115, 000 Indians came to experiment, and 9, 000 came for different reasons. The next largest nationality to immigrate were Nigerian ( 141, 000 ), Chinese (90, 000 ), and Pakistani (83, 000 ).
Net migration to the UK fell 10 % last year to 685, 000 after hitting a record high in 2022 of 764, 000, the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics present. Europeans who travel to the UK for work or to study are also included in immigration numbers.
Of these, 85 % were nothing- EU arrivals, in strong contrast to post- 2021 when EU nationals made up the largest element of lengthy- term immigration.
423, 000 non-EU nationalscame to work in the UK in the year ending December 2023, an increase of 53 % from the year before when there were 277, 000, which is the main reason for immigration to the UK among non-EU immigrants. This is because, as of the year before, there were 277, 000, the main reason for immigration to the UK was now work, rather than research. Of these, 219, 000 weredependant applicants and 204, 000 were for major applicants, meaning the number of non- EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long- word job visas has overtaken the number of key applicants. This is primarily due to the rise in dependents living with those with health and care permits. There were 279, 131 permits granted to dependants of persons on work permits in 2023, which was 80 % higher than 2022, of these, 203, 452 went to dependants of health and care personnel.
According to house business numbers, there were 337, 240 work permits granted to primary candidates in 2023, of which 146, 477 were for health and care visas (91 % more than the preceding year when there were 76, 724.) Of these, 89, 236 visas were granted for care workers, 18, 664 Indians received care worker visas, making them the largest recipient and over half of nurse visas ( 11, 322 ) went to Indians.
A full of 114, 409 student visa ( allowing students to work after they grad ) were granted to primary candidates in 2023, of these, 50, 053 went to Indian immigrants, making them the largest citizenship. The most research permits were also granted to Indians.
More recent data from the home office’s release reveals that there are starting to decrease the number of research permits granted to Indian nationals: 21, 800 less Indian nationals entered the UK to study at the master’s level than they did the previous year. This is a result of the fresh restrictions on bringing dependents that were implemented in January.
