UK: record net immigration of half a million people in one year

The Thames and the City, in London, November 4, 2022 (photo illustration).

AP - Kin Cheung

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Despite Brexit, despite the economic and political crisis, the United Kingdom has never welcomed so many immigrants.

Net migration, arrivals minus departures, exceeded half a million in July 2021 and June 2022. This record is due to several factors.

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With our correspondent in London,

The number of foreign students has doubled in one year – they represent one in five arrivals in the past year.

But it is above all the humanitarian visas that have swelled the migratory balance: 200,000 people, Ukrainians and Afghans fleeing the war and the Taliban, and Hong Kongers who benefit from a dedicated program.

To this must be added asylum seekers, and the system is so saturated that applications are constantly increasing.

As for crossings of the Channel, which concentrate media and political attention, they constitute barely more than 5% of the total.

These 504,000 new arrivals risk putting the government in difficulty.

During the last elections in 2019, the Conservatives had promised a drop in immigration (under 100,000).

The Ministry of the Interior is now calling for reforms to bring down non-economic legal immigration.

Among the avenues considered: higher minimum wages for skilled workers or the restriction of student visas to certain courses with high added value.

►Read again: United Kingdom: bosses are calling for more immigration to meet the labor shortage

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